Why Aren’t Doctors Screening Older Americans for Anxiety?

February 27, 2023

(New York Times) – A lot of older people can empathize. Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder; a 2017 study of older adults in six countries found that more than 17 percent had experienced an anxiety disorder within the past year.

Generalized anxiety disorder, Ms. Tilton’s diagnosis, is the most common type among seniors. “The most prominent symptom is severe, difficult-to-control worry,” said Dr. Carmen Andreescu, a geriatric psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and an author of a recent editorial on late-life anxiety in JAMA Psychiatry. (Read More)