Treatment of anxiety disorders by psychiatrists from the American Psychiatric Practice Research Network

Abstract

Objective: Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in the United States, and if untreated, result in a number of negative outcomes. This study aimed to investigate psychiatrists' current treatment practices for patients with anxiety disorders in the United States. Methods: Psychiatrist-reported data from the 1997 and 1999 American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education Practice Research Network (PRN) Study of Psychiatric Patients and Treatments (SPPT) were examined, focusing on patients diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Information related to diagnostic and clinical features and treatments provided were obtained. Results: Anxiety disorders remain underdiagnosed and undertreated, since only 11.4% of the sample received a principal diagnosis of an anxiety disorder in a real world setting. Posttraumatic stress disorder was associated with particularly high comorbidity and disability, and social anxiety disorder was relatively rarely diagnosed and treated. Although combined pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy was commonly used to treat anxiety disorders, anxiolytics were more commonly prescribed than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Conclusions: These data provide a picture of diagnosis and practice patterns across a range of psychiatric settings and suggest that anxiety disorders, despite being among the most prevalent of psychiatric disorders remain underdiagnosed and undertreated particularly in respect of the use of psychotherapeutic interventions.

Avaliação breve da psicossintomatologia: Análise fatorial confirmatória da versão portuguesa do Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI 18)

“…De acordo com estes autores, os anos vividos com incapacidade são um índice calculado com base na prevalência e no grau de perda de saúde associados às sequelas de uma dada doença, constituindo um dos parâmetros utilizados para estimar a carga de uma doença. Face ao acentuado impacto negativo destas perturbações psiquiátricas, frequentemente subdiagnosticadas (Derogatis, 2001;Sorsdahl et al, 2013;Vermani, Marcus, & Katzman, 2011), é fundamental identificar as pessoas que apresentam psicossintomatologia clinicamente significativa. Esta medida potencia a intervenção precoce, a qual se traduz na diminuição de custos e na melhoria da qualidade dos cuidados de saúde (Derogatis, 2001).…”

Treatments used for obsessive–compulsive disorder—An international perspective

“…Throughout the world, OCD is thought to occur in 0.8 to 2% of the population (Ruscio, Stein, Chiu, & Kessler, 2010). It is viewed as a relapsing remitting disorder (Eisen et al, 2013;Skoog & Skoog, 1999), and patients with OCD often do not receive optimal treatment (Sorsdahl et al, 2013). Treatment guidelines (Baldwin et al, 2014;Bandelow et al, 2012;Marazziti & Consoli, 2010;National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2005) recommend selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or exposure and response prevention (ERP) as first-line treatments.…”

International prescribing practices in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

“…Throughout the world, OCD is thought to occur in 0.8 to 2% of the population (Ruscio et al, 2010). It is viewed as a relapsing remitting disorder (Skoog and Skoog, 1999;Eisen et al, 2013), and it has been observed that patients with OCD often do not receive optimal treatment with psychotropic agents (Sorsdahl et al, 2013). Treatment guidelines (N. I.C.E., 2005;A.P.A., 2007;Baldwin et al, 2014;Marazziti and Consoli, 2010;Bandelow et al, 2012) recommend selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or exposure and response prevention (ERP) as first line treatments.…”