[Detection and diagnosis of anxiety]

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are now defined by precise diagnostic criteria and their treatments are facilitated by the clinical and therapeutic studies undertaken during the past two decades with current classifications. However, their recognition in everyday clinical practice can be difficult because the patients do not always evoke their symptoms spontaneously, and the attention of the physician is generally attracted by other mental disorders, such as depressive syndromes. The high prevalence of anxiety disorders in the general population, and the handicap associated with severe forms, must incite to their systematic exploration, in order to propose specific therapeutic procedures to the patients. In addition to the clinical exploration of various anxiety syndromes, the clinician can be helped in this goal by assessment instruments, nowadays well validated and easily used, such as dimensional scales or structured diagnostic interviews.