Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Related Disorders

This chapter begins with a brief overview of diagnostic features and epidemiology of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive (OC)-related disorders. It reviews the treatment of anxiety disorders and OC-related disorders, primarily as defined by the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, with some attention to categories described in the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases. Most anxiety disorders have been consistently found to be more common among women than men; however the magnitude of gender differences varies across studies and disorders. The chapter discusses the strategies that are used across a range of anxiety and OC-related disorders, including psychoeducation, motivational enhancement, self-monitoring, cognitive strategies, exposure-based strategies, relaxation-based strategies, mindfulness and acceptance-based techniques, habit reversal, social-skills training, problem-solving training, and pharmacotherapy. The chapter concludes with a comment on cultural considerations of the treatment of anxiety and OC-related disorders.