Anxiety disorders in elderly in primary care of Primorsko-goranska County

A nxiety disorders represent a group of diverse medical conditions that are dominated by worry, fear, anxiety, tension, unrest and many others such as conversion and somatization symptoms (1, 3, 4). Anxiety disorder often occurs as a situational disorder and observation allows differentiation of normal, neurotic and psychotic anxiety. They belong to a group of disorders that are, according to MKB 10 (5) and DSM-IV (6) classifications, called Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders. Anxiety symptoms of the NSS disorders are clinically significant, inappropriate and inadequate respecting the degree and manifestation, given the state of the person (1). Anxiety disorders are primarily defined and diagnosed as a stand-alone, regarding the time when they are not a part of the symptoms of other mental illness. Although anxiety and anxiety disorders are often accompanied by mental illnesses such as depression, addiction, etc., anxiety disorder is posted as primary diagnosis only when these diseases are excluded or the anxiety disorder preceded and caused some other disorder, such as drug abuse. Basic diagnostic rule for the diagnosis of one of the NSS disorders comes down to determining the occurrence of symptoms and conditions under which it occurs. Psychopharmacotherapy represents the basis of successful treatment of anxiety disorders, but without psychoeducation of the patients and their families, as well as the cognitive-emotional-behavioral therapy, lifestyle changes and basic beliefs of the patients, it is often impossible to cure (6, 7).