Test Your Knowledge

Anti-anxiety medications are effective in treating most types of anxiety, regardless of the underlying cause. However, some experts maintain that these drugs should only be used if other treatment methods such as psychotherapy or relaxation training have proved inadequate by themselves.

Conditions that are treated with anti-anxiety medications include:

• Phobias. Extremely strong, persistent, irrational fears of things, places, experiences or situations. Patients may react with extreme panic when they come into contact with the stimulus that they fear.
  
  
• Panic disorder. Condition in which a person regularly experiences panic attacks –sudden episodes of fear and anxiety that usually last for between 10 and 30 minutes and cause symptoms such as racing heartbeat, heavy perspiration and shortness of breath.
  
  
• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Condition in which a person worries excessively about all types of life issues, including health, family, money and work. Patients with this disorder may find themselves unable to relax even when there are no signs of trouble in their lives.
  
  
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Condition in which patients have persistent thoughts they cannot control (obsessions) and/or perform certain actions repeatedly (compulsions).
  
  
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Condition that follows an especially traumatic or terrifying event in a person’s life. In severe cases, it can become so debilitating that patients have difficulty working or socializing.