Overview
It’s not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa. Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 1% of the population every year.
- Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.
- People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.
- Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.
- Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old. Research shows that untreated children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social experiences, and engage in substance abuse.
Specific Phobias
- Specific phobias affect 19 million adults, or 8.7% of the U.S. population.
- Women are twice as likely to be affected as men.
- Symptoms typically begin in childhood; the average age-of-onset is 7 years old.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are closely related to anxiety disorders, which some may experience at the same time, along with depression.
Major Depressive Disorder
- The leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15 to 44.3.
- MDD affects more than 16.1 million American adults, or about 6.7%of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
- While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the median age at onset is 32.5 years old.
- More prevalent in women than in men.
Social Anxiety Disorder
- SAD affects 15 million adults, or 6.8% of the U.S. population.
- SAD is equally common among men and women andtypically begins around age 13. According to a 2007 ADAA survey, 36% of people with social anxiety disorder report experiencing symptoms for 10 or more years before seeking help.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- PTSD affects 7.7 million adults, or 3.5% of the U.S. population.
- Women are more likely to be affected than men.
- Rape is the most likely trigger of PTSD: 65% of men and 45.9% of women who are raped will develop the disorder.
- Childhood sexual abuse is a strong predictor of lifetime likelihood for developing PTSD.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- GAD affects 6.8 million adults, or 3.1% of the U.S. population, yet only 43.2% are receiving treatment.
- Women are twice as likely to be affected as men.
Panic Disorder (PD)
- Panic disorder without or with agoraphobia affects 6 million adults, or 2.7% of the U.S. population.
- Women are twice as likely to be affected as men. GAD often co-occurs with major depression.
Bipolar Disorder
- Bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million adult Americans, or about 2.6% of the U.S. population age 18 and older every year.
- The median age of onset for bipolar disorder is 25 years, although the illness can start in early childhood or as late as the 40’s and 50’s.
- An equal number of men and women develop bipolar illness and it is found in all ages, races, ethnic groups and social classes.
- Almost 10 million people will develop this illness sometimes during their lives. About half of these will never receive the correct diagnosis or treatment
Persistent depressive disorder, or PDD, (formerly called dysthymia)
- It is a form of depression that usually continues for at least two years.
- Affects approximately 1.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. (about 3.3 million American adults). Only 61.7% of adults with MDD are receiving treatment.
- The average age of onset is 31 years old.
Schizophrenia
- Approximately 1.1 % of the population age 18 and older have schizophrenia. Schizophrenia affects men and women with equal frequency.
- Schizophrenia often first appears earlier in men, usually in their late teens or early 20s, than in women, who are generally affected in their 20s or early 30s.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- OCD affects 2.2 million adults, or 1.0% of the U.S. population.
- OCD is equally common among men and women.
- The average age of onset is 19, with 25 percent of cases occurring by age 14. One-third of affected adults first experienced symptoms in childhood.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- ADHD, one of the most common mental disorders in children and adolescents, affects an estimated lifetime prevalence of 9.0% of 13 to 18 year olds.
- About 2-3 times more boys than girls are affected. ADHD usually becomes evident in preschool or early elementary years. The disorder frequently persists into adolescence and occasionally into adulthood.
Alzheimer’s Disease
- Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia among people age 65 and older, affects an estimated 4 million Americans.
- As more and more Americans live longer, the number affected by Alzheimer’s disease will continue to grow unless a cure or effective prevention is discovered.
- The duration of illness, from onset of symptoms to death, averages 8 to 10 years.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- On that note, while the CDC asserted that America’s autism rates have held steady at 1-in-68 for the first time in their survey’s history, a 2015 National Health Statistics report found the actual US autism rate to be drastically higher at 1-in-45.
- 30% of autistic children never speak more than a few words, they are sickened by bowel disease at a much higher rate than the average population, and many suffer from debilitating anxiety.
- By the most conservative estimates, almost 20% of children with autism also have epilepsy.
- Over 90% of autistic children who die prematurely do so because of drowning.
- The most severely affected kids may never be toilet trained and many struggle with frustrations that lead them to self-assault or assault a caregiver.
