Anxiety Disorders: An Overview

Abstract

Despite significant advances in understanding and management of neuropsychiatric disorders during past few decades, anxiety remains the leading cause of deaths. Approximately, two third of the anxious or depressed patients respond to the currently available treatment but the magnitude of improvement is still disappointing. Anxiety is a universal human emotion, closely allied with appropriate fear and often serving psycho-biologically adaptive purposes. Anxiety disorders are divided into five major categories namely, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Benzodiazepines are used to treat a variety of clinical symptoms, including anxiety, convulsions and muscle tension. Although, these compounds have well known benefits, their side effects are prominent. Researchers have been exploring natural resources to find out safer and effective drugs with fewer side effects