If the patient is not depressed, cognitive behavior therapy might be a better first choice, with the option of adding medication later. Some of the most common anxiety meds happen to be antidepressants, such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft. There are also benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium. However, these drugs can have such side effects such as drowsiness and sexual dysfunction and can be habit forming. Stanley says some studies suggest that anxiety disorders run in families, but anxiety can also be a learned behavior.
Anxiety can even afflict the young and elderly.
Recent studies published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that anxiety levels among children and college students have skyrocketed so much that children in the 1980s reported more anxiety than child psychiatric patients in the 1950s. The study blamed the climbing anxiety levels on crime, diseases such as AIDS and an increasing lack of social connections and a rise in divorce rates. Stanley, whose expertise is anxiety disorders in the elderly, says such disorders are surprisingly more prevalent than depression in the elderly. They worry about their health, loss of control in their lives and their role in life, she says. Older people also tend to be less willing to talk about psychological things.