• Anxiety Disorders - Introduction
• Highlights
• Causes
• Risk Factors
• Complications
• Diagnosis
• Treatment

Introduction

Fear and stress reactions are essential for human survival. They enable people to pursue important goals and to respond appropriately to danger. In a healthy individual, the stress response (fight or flight) is provoked by a genuine threat or challenge and is used as a spur for appropriate action.

An anxiety disorder, however, involves an excessive or inappropriate state of arousal characterized by feelings of apprehension, uncertainty, or fear. The word is derived from the Latin, ang...