Anxiety disorders are often incapacitating chronic conditions, which can exist from childhood or begin unexpectantly after a triggering event.
They are likely to appear at times of increased stress and are often accompanied by physical symptoms such as sweating, muscle spasms, palpitations, headache, and hypertension, which can in some individuals lead to fatigue and even exhaustion.
Although the words anxiety and fear are often used interchangeably, in clinical terms, they have different meanings; anxiety is defined as an unpleasant emotional state for which the cause is either not readily identified or perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable, whereas fear is an emotional and physiological response to a recognized external threat.
The term anxiety disorder, however, includes fears as well as anxieties.
Phobias, which are fears that are "persistent or irrational", make up the majority of anxiety disorder cases.
Anxiety disorders can often coexist with other mental disorders like clinical depression, which can occur in as many as 60% of individuals with anxiety disorders.
There is a considerable overlap between symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that the same environmental triggers can provoke symptoms in either condition.
Research studies have shown that anxiety disorders are more common among those with a family history of anxiety disorders.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, (SSRIs) are the drugs most commonly used to treat depression.
They are also frequently considered as an initial treatment for anxiety disorders.
Severe cases of anxiety and depression can be induced by long term alcohol abuse which in most cases subsides with prolonged abstinence.
Sometimes even moderate, sustained alcohol use may increase anxiety and depression symptoms in some individuals.
Alcohol, caffeine and benzodiazepines can aggravate or cause anxiety and panic attacks.
It is estimated that approximately half of patients attending mental health services for anxiety disorders have problems caused by long-term use of alcohol or benzodiazepines.
Though anxiety may be present before the dependence, dependence acts to sustain the anxiety disorders and can often progressively make them worse.
Patients who are addicted to alcohol or prescribed benzodiazepines sometimes decide to quit using those drugs when it is explained to them they have a choice between ongoing poor mental health or quitting and recovering from their symptoms.
Patients suffering from the toxic effects of alcohol or benzodiazepines will not benefit from other therapies or medications as they do not address the root cause of the symptoms.
Symptoms may temporarily worsen during alcohol withdrawal or benzodiazepine withdrawal.
Intoxication from stimulants is commonly associated with repetitive panic attacks.
In more mature sufferers anxiety disorder can arise in response to life stresses such as financial worries or chronic physical illness.
Between 4% and 10% of older adults are diagnosed with anxiety disorder, a figure which is probably an underestimate because of the tendency of adults to ignore or trivialise psychiatric symptoms or to concentrate on their physical symptoms.
Anxiety is also common among older people who have dementia, although anxiety disorder is sometimes misdiagnosed in older adults when doctors misinterpret symptoms of a physical complaint, for example, racing heartbeat due to cardiac arrhythmia, as a sign of anxiety.
There is evidence that chronic exposure to organic solvents in the work environment can be associated with anxiety disorders.
Painting, varnishing and carpet laying are some of the jobs in which significant exposure to organic solvents may occur.