Anxiety is a fairly common experience, one that most people are able to manage and live with. Unfortunately, there is a sizable number of people whose experiences of anxiety are severe enough to interfere with their lives. Of the many topics of concern to mental health providers, probably none has received the attention accorded to anxiety and depression. By "attention" I mean there is a sizable body of clinical research literature dealing with assessment and treatment of anxiety. 

Probably the best news is that anxiety disorders are treatable, and that generalized anxiety, panic, PTSD, social phobias, and to a somewhat lesser extent, obsessive compulsive disorders,  are all amenable to reasonably short-term therapy. Among the more successful treatments are those that emphasize cognitive-behavioral approaches (see links below). Treatments for trauma, which is a special category of this class of problems, are also actively researched and there are various approaches that hold promise. (For the compete story about trauma see David Baldwin's Trauma Pages). Perhaps surprisingly (when compared with the benefits many experience with medications for depression) medications for anxiety are not usually the best course of action. In some instances they can worsen the problem.

In my own practice I work with a number of anxiety problems, generalized anxiety, social phobias, and panic attacks among them. Unfortunately, the experience of anxiety --in its many forms-- seems to take on a life of its own. People can become quite anxious about being anxious! Therefore I view anxiety as a response to how one is coping broadly in their adjustment to social living. Anxiety is not a "thing" that takes hold of people: rather it is a signaling system that one is not coping effectively given one's life style. Often times it is our focus on anxiety itself that spirals into more anxiety: it can feed off itself. I am familiar with the main stream approaches to the treatment of anxiety and offer these as appropriate.

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