What Is The Prognosis for Anxiety?

Anxiety disorders are, by nature, typically long-lasting. These disorders continue to impact the lives of many people around the world.

Treatment is available however, and may result in a full recovery being made. In most cases, someone with an Anxiety disorder will see a partial improvement in their symptoms. In the vast majority of cases, quality of life will improve significantly.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety: Anxiety in its simplest form is a feeling of being worried, afraid, or generally tense – usually in anticipation of an imminent event, or a predicted event. Anxiety is a perfectly natural emotion, with the vast majority of people going through periods of anxiety in their life. However, for some people anxiety is a constant problem which can be hugely detrimental to their quality of life. Anxiety can easily impact someone’s ability to live their life as they would hope to. Worrying can sometimes get out of control, making it near-impossible to live life in a healthy way. This typically leads to impairment in several different areas of life. The term ‘Anxiety’ can be applied to a host of mental health conditions, with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder just two of many conditions.

The impact of different types of Anxiety

It is important to state from the outset that the prognosis for each different type of Anxiety disorder can vary. While Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is often a life-long condition, certain Phobias can be entirely cured.

All cases of Anxiety can be treated, and as stated earlier, will normally result in at least a partial improvement in symptoms.

The most common type of Anxiety is Generalised Anxiety Disorder. This condition is characterised by a general, long-term feeling of anxiety and worry, applicable in many situations. This is normally linked to a range of factors, like personality traits and genetics.

Because so many factors contribute to the onset of the condition, it can be difficult to treat. It is rare for any anxiety condition to clear up on its own, without some form of intervention.

Seeking treatment

This makes accessing effective treatment very important. Antidepressants can provide relief and lessen some of the symptoms of Anxiety. There are several different classes of antidepressants to try, in the case that there is a lack of response at first.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can prove helpful too. But if Anxiety is linked more to past traumas, then a therapy like Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy will often prove more helpful.

Therapy and medication should be supplemented by regular exercise and a healthy diet. This combination gives an individual maximum chance of attaining remission.

It is common for antidepressants – the primary medication for Anxiety – to be taken for around 6 months after the cessation of symptoms. This is conducted with the aim of preventing any relapse.

The good news is that those with anxiety generally have the same life expectancy as the general population [1].

Concerns of treatment

One of the major stumbling blocks with anxiety treatment is its high comorbidity rate with other mental health conditions.

Anxiety is frequently accompanied by conditions like Depression, Dissociative Disorders, Somatic Disorders and even Personality Disorders.

Because of this, it is normally the case of multiple areas of a patient needing to be treated. This can be a very time-consuming activity.

Anxiety can also lead to suicidal ideation. This is often especially the case when Anxiety runs comorbidly with other conditions. But for most, feelings will never reach an intensity level that causes suicidal thoughts.

Summary

Overall, in most cases of Anxiety, full recovery is possible. For some people, anxiety will be lifelong.

Those who access treatment early stand the best chance of success. Due to the damage that anxiety disorders do, it is very important to access treatment. Hopefully, this will lead to the individual seeing an improvement in their quality of life.  

See Also

• What Are The Different Types of Anxiety?
• What Are The Symptoms of Anxiety?
• What Are The Causes of Anxiety?
• How is Anxiety Diagnosed?
• How Can Anxiety Be Treated?
• What is the Prognosis for Anxiety?
• 10 Tips for Living With Anxiety