Abstracts

Anxiety disorders are life altering psychiatric conditions that severely impair the quality of life of those suffering from them. They are the most common psychiatric disorders in the United States, and are characterized by numerous somatic symptoms, such as facial flushing, hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating), muscle tension,  paresthesias (numbness and tingling), shallow breathing, syncope (fainting), and tachycardia (rapid heart rate). The emotional symptoms of anxiety disorders occur simultaneously with the somatic ones and include agitation, derealization (feelings of unreality), tearfulness, feelings of impending doom, irritability, nervousness, and shyness. Patients with anxiety disorders often report escape and avoidance behaviors that merely reinforce and perpetuate their ongoing anxiety. They also tend to engage in catastrophic thinking by over-predicting the negative consequences of events.