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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Anxiety disorders in older adults: a comprehensive review†

TLDR
Prevalence and symptom expression of anxiety disorders in late life, as well as risk factors, comorbidity, cognitive decline, age of onset, and treatment efficacy for older adults are reviewed.
Abstract
This review aims to address issues unique to older adults with anxiety disorders in order to inform potential changes in the DSM-V. Prevalence and symptom expression of anxiety disorders in late life, as well as risk factors, comorbidity, cognitive decline, age of onset, and treatment efficacy for older adults are reviewed. Overall, the current literature suggests: (a) anxiety disorders are common among older age individuals, but less common than in younger adults; (b) overlap exists between anxiety symptoms of younger and older adults, although there are some differences as well as limitations to the assessment of symptoms among older adults; (c) anxiety disorders are highly comorbid with depression in older adults; (d) anxiety disorders are highly comorbid with a number of medical illnesses; (e) associations between cognitive decline and anxiety have been observed; (f) late age of onset is infrequent; and (g) both pharmacotherapy and CBT have demonstrated efficacy for older adults with anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for the DSM-Vare provided, including extending the text section on age-specific features of anxiety disorders in late life and providing information about the complexities of diagnosing anxiety disorders in older adults. Depression and Anxiety 27:190–211, 2010. r 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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White matter integrity differences associated with post-traumatic stress disorder are not normalized by concurrent marijuana use.

TL;DR: Diffusion tensor imaging scans showed that while FA values in the right ATR and the cingulum differed across groups, there were no significant interactions between PTSD and MJ in any white matter tracts, indicating that MJ exposure neither normalizes nor worsens white matter abnormalities in those with PTSD.
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The effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing PTSD and psychological distress in first responders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

TL;DR: Psychological interventions are effective in reducing PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms but not stress in first responders, but no differences were found for depression.
Book ChapterDOI

Sleep Loss in Older Adults: Effects on Waking Performance and Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation with Healthy Aging and Insomnia

TL;DR: Treatment of anxiety and/or insomnia may help to restore other cognitive benefits of good sleep in the elderly, as the concurrent degradation of sleep due to medical and neuropsychiatric issues in many elders may greatly reduce benefits to cognition provided by sleep in younger adults.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

TL;DR: Lifetime prevalence estimates are higher in recent cohorts than in earlier cohorts and have fairly stable intercohort differences across the life course that vary in substantively plausible ways among sociodemographic subgroups.
Journal ArticleDOI

One-month prevalence of mental disorders in the United States. Based on five Epidemiologic Catchment Area sites.

TL;DR: One-month prevalence results were determined from 18571 persons interviewed in the first-wave community samples of all five sites that constituted the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemilogic Catchment Area Program as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI

The effect of age on positive and negative affect : a developmental perspective on happiness

TL;DR: Findings lend support to recent life span theories of emotion and indicate that personality, contextual, and sociodemographic variables, as well as their interactions, are all needed to fully understand the age-affect relationship.
Journal ArticleDOI

Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span.

TL;DR: Age differences in emotional experience over the adult life span were explored, focusing on the frequency, intensity, complexity, and consistency of emotional experience in everyday life, and individual factor analyses computed for each participant revealed that age was associated with more differentiated emotional experience.
Journal ArticleDOI

Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Developmental Issues and Implications for DSM-V

TL;DR: Epidemiological evidence covering prevalence, incidence, course, and risk factors of anxiety disorders among children and adolescents is reviewed for improved early recognition and differential diagnosis as well as prevention and treatment.
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