Anxiety disorders are unpleasant, but common. They affect 1 in 7 of people in Australia (or 14% of the population). Three common anxiety disorders are:

• Social phobia (affects 5% of people). People with social phobia fear being judged by others. So, they often avoid or don’t like going to social events or public places.


• Panic disorder (affects 3% of people). People with panic disorder have panic attacks (these are the sudden onset of strong physical symptoms including a racing heart, hyperventilation, shaking, upset stomach, and thoughts of losing control, going crazy, having a heart attack or dying). People with panic disorder often also have "Agoraphobia", which is when people avoid situations because of their concerns that they will suffer a panic attack.


• Generalised Anxiety Disorder (or GAD, affects 3% of people). People with GAD worry excessively, and have difficulty controlling their worry. They worry about many things, including their health, the health of family and friends, finances, upcoming events, etc.  

We know that each of these types of anxiety trigger 3 kinds of symptoms: Physical symptoms, behaviour changes, and unhelpful thoughts. These include:

1. Physical symptoms. These can include: sweating, a racing heart, faster breathing, shaking, upset stomach, tingling sensations, feeling physically unwell, etc.


2. Changes in behaviour (the things we do). These include:
   • Avoiding places where you might see others (going out to parties, going shopping, going to the supermarket or bank, talking to others, or other situations where they need to meet other people). These patterns of avoidance often occur in social phobia.
   • Avoiding places, thoughts/feelings or physical sensations that remind them of panic attacks, or where they might have a panic attack. These patterns of avoidance often occur in panic disorder.
   • Avoiding situations that are unfamiliar or that disrupt the predictability of everyday life, or avoid things that remind them of their worries, like certain TV programs, newspapers, or topics of conversation. These patterns of avoidance often occur in GAD.
   
   
3. Unhelpful thoughts. These include:
   • Worrying that others are judging them negatively, for example, “they probably think I’m stupid/or an idiot”, “I’m going to make a fool of myself”, “they’re all going to laugh at me”. These types of thoughts are common in social phobia.
   • Worrying what their symptoms of panic mean about their health, for example, “I'm going to lose control", “I’m going to collapse or die", “I can't cope”. These types of thoughts are common in panic disorder.
   • Having worries that are difficult to control and out of proportion to the actual likelihood or impact of the things the person is worried, for example, "I'm going to have a breakdown", "My worry will be the end of me", "I'm going to go crazy". These types of thoughts are common in GAD.
   
   

The Impact of Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are unpleasant and often affect people’s quality of life. Anxiety can be mild, moderate, or severe. Many people with anxiety can still work or attend study, and have healthy relationships, but this is harder for people with moderate or severe anxiety.

Many people with social phobia, panic, or GAD tell us that their anxiety affects their mood, their work or study, and affects their relationships with others. People tell us that anxiety restricts what they do and when they do it. Many people tell us that they are worried that they can’t control their anxiety, and worried that they will become isolated, lonely, or depressed. People with social phobia, panic, or GAD often also have symptoms of another type of anxiety. And, because of their symptoms, many people with anxiety don’t seek help from health professionals.

When people have severe anxiety they often also develop symptoms of depression including feeling helpless, hopeless and suicidal. If you are having such thoughts please urgently contact your GP, another health professional, or your local mental health team. Or, in a crisis, dial 000. Remember, anxiety and depression can be treated.

Treatment for Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are treatable. The best treatments involve learning about your symptoms, learning how to control those symptoms (using cognitive and behavioural techniques or CBT), and gradually resuming your usual activities. Learning to beat your anxiety takes courage, commitment, and practice.

You can talk to your General Practitioner about getting a referral to a Clinical Psychologist, Psychiatrist, or another mental health professional to learn to manage your anxiety. Or, you can try our new Anxiety Program.

What is the Anxiety Program?

The Anxiety Program is a new Internet-based program designed to teach people with anxiety how to manage their symptoms. We developed the Anxiety Program because many people with anxiety never seek treatment, but many have access to the Internet. Also, because many people with one type of anxiety have symptoms of other types, we thought it was important to provide information about the three types of anxiety in the same program. Technically, this type of program is called a Transdiagnostic Program, because it targets more than one type of anxiety at a time.

The new Anxiety Program aims to provide good education and guidance on simple but effective treatment techniques for the symptoms of anxiety described above. We hope it will help people to gain better control over their symptoms, improve their confidence, and get back to living a full and satisfying life.

The Next Trial of the Anxiety Program

We have updated the existing Anxiety Program, and will open applications for the next trial on Thursday 18th February, 2010. This version of the Anxiety Program involves completing 8 online lessons and homework assignments over 10 weeks. The aim of this research trial is to compare a clinician-guided version of the Anxiety Program (in which people receive weekly telephone calls or emails from a clinical psychologist) with a self-guided version (in which people receive weekly telephone calls or emails from a member of the research team, but not clinical advice). This trial is important because it will tell us how much benefit people can get from the Anxiety Program when they complete a self-guided version.

The Anxiety Program is for people with either social phobia, panic disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or a combination of these disorders.

People eligible for this Program are:

• Australian residents, and,
• 18 years or older, and,
• Have at least one of the conditions (social phobia, panic disorder, or GAD)

People ineligible for this Program are:

• Are severely depressed or are suicidal (we believe that these people need face-to-face treatment as soon as possible), or,
• Have a history of bipolar disoder or schizophrenia, or,
• Are taking a benzodiazepine medication (e.g., Xanax, Valium, Temazepam, Diazepam, Kalma), or
• Have been taking another medication (e.g., an anti-depressant) for less than one month

Applications will open on Thursday 18th February, 2010, and applying involves two steps. The first step is an online application, and involves completing several questionnaires to help us understand your symptoms, and this takes approximately 20 minutes. The second step involves a telephone interview with a member of our research team, which takes approximately 20 minutes. Successful applicants will be randomly allocated to one of three groups:

• Group 1: Access to the Anxiety Program with weekly contact from a member of the VirtualClinic research team. This Group will begin the 10 week Program in late March
• Group 2: Access to the Anxiety Program with weekly contact from a clinical psychologist. This Group will also begin the 10 week Program in late March
• Group 3: This Group begins the Anxiety Program in early June after Groups 1 and 2 have finished the Anxiety Program. The support they receive will be the most effective out of the support provided to Groups 1 and 2
  

Before applying please read all the information on the "Important Information" page, under the "About our Treatment" tab (above). Please note that places for this trial are limited and we have a very large waiting list, so please apply as soon as possible.

Page Last Updated: 16 February 2010, by Dr Nickolai Titov