NIMH Pages about Anxiety Disorders

Overview of Anxiety Disorders…

Find current clinical trials on Anxiety Disorders…External Link: Please review our disclaimer.

Publications about Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents (Fact Sheet)

Learn about how anxiety disorders affect children and adolescents and the direction of future research.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: When Unwanted Thoughts Take Over

A brochure on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that explains the signs, symptoms, and treatments. En Español

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): When Worry Gets Out of Control

A brochure on generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) that explains the signs, symptoms, and treatment. En Español

Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder): Always Embarrassed

A brochure on social phobia that explains the signs, symptoms, and treatments. En Español

Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms

A brochure on Panic Disorder that explains the signs, symptoms and treatments. En Español

More Publications about Anxiety Disorders

Science News about Anxiety Disorders

NIMH’s Dr. Aleksandra Vicentic: Sleep Brain Wave Key to Conquering Fear Memories

Science Update • March 08, 2013

An NIMH-funded research study in rats identifies a specific group of cells in the brainstem whose activation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep helped in eradicating unwanted memories, paving the way for future therapeutics for these disorders.

Brain Imaging Predicts Psychotherapy Success in Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder

Science Update • February 01, 2013

Brain imaging might soon predict which treatment options would work best for patients with social phobia.

Switching Off a Specific Brain Region Can Alter Ingrained Habits in Rats

Science Update • November 27, 2012

Old habits may die hard, but we might be able to turn them off by targeting a specific brain region. Such a discovery could help us find better ways of controlling addiction or certain mental disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder.

Brain Hubs Boil When Hoarders Face Pitching Their Own Stuff

Press Release • August 09, 2012

In patients with hoarding disorder, parts of a decision-making brain circuit under-activated when dealing with others’ possessions, but over-activated when deciding whether to keep or discard their own things.

Pattern Recognition Technology May Help Predict Future Mental Illness in Teens

Science Update • April 02, 2012

Computer programs that automatically spot patterns in data may help predict a person’s risk for future mental disorders.

More Science News about Anxiety Disorders

Meeting Summaries about Anxiety Disorders

Perinatal Mood Disorders: Components of Care

May 07, 2009 – May 08, 2009
Bethesda, Maryland
A two-day meeting convened in May 2009 educated participants on essential components of care for women with perinatal mood disorders

Cognition and Stress: Advances in Basic and Translational Research

July 24, 2007 – July 25, 2007
Bethesda, Maryland
In July 2007, the NIMH Cognition Working Group held a multidisciplinary workshop to identify major trends, gaps, and opportunities in behavioral and biological research on cognition and stress.

Optimizing fMRI Approaches to Adolescent Mental Disorders

August 17, 2006 – August 18, 2006
Rockville, Maryland
On August 17–18, 2006, the National Institute of Mental Health sponsored a workshop that brought together researchers involved in the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study adolescent mental disorders and normal development, as well as scientists involved in integrating fMRI data with data from other imaging modalities. The goal was to address issues involved in such research toward the goal of optimizing study designs and approaches to improve our understanding of the neural bases of these disorders