Feeling anxiety?
As many as 25 million Americans may suffer knowingly or unknowingly from anxiety, a treatable psychiatric disorder that in extreme forms can be disabling, according to a Duke University Medical Center psychiatrist.
William W.K. Zung, who invented the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, said a similar self-rating scale he developed for anxiety revealed in a recent study that 20 percent of 739 consecutive patients seen in a family medicine clinic had significant symptoms of anxiety.
“The nine-month study was surprising because it suggested that anxiety may be more prevalent in the general population than previously believed, more common even than depression,” said Zung, Duke Professor of psychiatry.
“It’s something that family practitioners should be on the lookout for.”
All of us worry from time to time, but for some, anxiety is a constant companion, a full fledged emotional disorder. It can disrupt sleep, upset the stomach or produce such powerful physical symptoms that victims think they are having heart attacks.
Other symptoms may include tremors, aches and pains, fatigue, restlessness, dizziness, faintness, frequent urination, sweating and nightmares.
A fear of flying or other phobias, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder are some of the forms of anxiety attack symptoms. Others include obsessive/ compulsive disorder, social phobias and generalized anxiety.
“Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms involves fundamental biologic changes that result from a patient’s attempt to cope with and adapt to stress,” Zung explained, noting that the stress may be internal, external or both.
His self-rating anxiety scale has been used in a number of studies both here and abroad.
“If anxiety as a psychiatric disorder is due to a change in brain chemistry, then the symptoms should be the same wherever you go,” Zung said. “And studies in Korea and Nigeria have indicated that is the case.”
If the patient is happy for it, anxiety can be treated with medications, most commonly benzodiazepines like Valium and Xanax.
“Psychotherapy may also be helpful, as well as behavioral therapy and biofeedback.”
In his family clinic study, Zung found that symptoms of anxiety tended to increase with age, and that the disorder seems to affect more women than men.
Zung’s self-rating anxiety scale is a series of 20 statements about emotional or physical symptoms. The respondent is asked to indicate the degree to which each is applicable.
“Self-rating scales offer a number of advantages,” Zung said. “First of all, they disclose information that only the patient can provide.” In many medical illnesses, the patient doesn’t have to tell the physician anything – the doctor can base his diagnosis on a physical exam and lab tests. But with psychiatric illnesses, you have to ask the patient questions.”
