escence, panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, social phobia, simple phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder (1:65 66). Of these, the first three pertain only to children. All of these diseases share in common symptoms of "anxiety and avoidance behavior."
As a group, the anxiety disorders are the most widespread mental health problem in the United States. The one month prevalence for these diseases is approximately 7.3% of the total population (3:157). The most common are the phobic disorders. They occur in about 6.2% of the population. The phobias are followed in prevalence by the obsessive compulsive (1.3%) and panic disorders (0.5%). These diseases tend to be more common among the poor. In fact, research has shown that the prevalence of anxiety disorders increases progressively from highest to lowest socioeconomic groups. Moreover, although anxiety disorders are common among the elderly, sufferers are typically women between the ages of 18 and 44 (10 12%). Indeed, panic disorders most often appear during the early twenties. This is a time when young adults must deal with such things as individuation intimacy, separation from parents, termination of education, and entrance into occupational life (3:164). Such psychological stress--when superimposed on an individual's pre existing susceptibility--may very well precipitate symptoms. It must be remembered though that any diagnosis of anxiety disorder should additionally eliminate the possibility of an underlying organic condition. Pr
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