Anxiety disorders are becoming a widespread epidemic in America. Each year we spend more than $46 billion dollars, nearly one third of our total mental health bill, treating the almost 20 million Americans affected by anxiety disorders. With these staggering numbers, it is no surprise that researchers and experts are examining many different forms of treatment in order to find more and better ways to diagnose and treat these debilitating disorders.

The American Psychiatric Association states that no single situation or condition causes anxiety disorders. Rather, physical and environmental triggers may combine to create a particular anxiety illness. Psychoanalytic theory suggests that anxiety stems from unconscious conflicts that arose from discomfort during infancy or childhood. For example, a person may carry the unconscious conflict of sexual feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex. Or the person may have developed problems from experiencing an illness, fright or other emotionally laden event as a child. By this theory, anxiety can be resolved by identifying and resolving the unconscious conflict. The symptoms that symbolize the conflict would then disappear. Lea

There are many different drugs used to treat anxiety symptoms; therefore, it is possible that if one type is not effective, another may be. Many of these medications have side effects, so the patient should be monitored and observed closely.

As indicated by James Herbert, Ph.D. Program Director and Associate Professor of Psychology at Hahnemann University that while no one knows for certain what causes social phobia, the scientific research suggests that both biological and environmental factors are probably involved. People with social phobia have also been shown to have certain biases in their thinking. For example, they often exaggerate the risks and dangers of certain social situations.

The American Psychiatric Association research indicates that 65 percent of the phobic and obsessive-compulsive patients who can cooperate with the therapist and conscientiously follow instructions will recover with behavior therapy. Studies have shown that while they are taking the medications, 70 percent of the patients who suffer from panic attacks improve. Medication is effective for about half of those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder

More recently, research has indicated that biochemical imbalances can be factors. Many scientists say all thoughts and feelings result from complex electrochemical interactions in the central nervous system. Moreover, some studies indicate that infusions of certain biochemicals can cause a panic attack in some people. According to this theory, treatment of anxiety should correct these biochemical imbalances. Although medications first come to mind with this theory, remember that studies have found biochemical changes can occur as a result of emotional, psychological or behavioral changes. No doubt each of these theories is true to some extent. A person may develop or inherit a biological susceptibility to anxiety disorders. Events in childhood may lead to certain fears that, over time, develop into a full-blown anxiety disorder.

Social anxiety dis

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