Psychiatric Evaluation - Diagnosing Anxiety: Anxiety Disorder

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Psychiatric evaluation

If a medical cause has been ruled out, your primary care physician may refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist. There is no laboratory test or paper-and-pencil questionnaire to aid in diagnosing anxiety disorders. Instead, the mental health clinician makes the diagnosis after observing and talking with you. He or she will ask you to describe your experiences in detail, noting your main symptoms. He or she may also ask some of the following questions: Do you worry all the time, even about little things? Do you break out in a cold sweat when you have to meet new people? Is it hard for you to work up the courage to call someone you don't know well? Do you stutter and become visibly agitated when discussing certain memories? Each of these feelings or behaviors is a sign of a different anxiety disorder.

Last updated:	September 05, 2008