Do People Of All Ages Develop Anxiety Disorders And How Do Anxiety Disorders Affect People At Different Ages?

— -- Question: Do people of all ages develop anxiety disorders and how do anxiety disorders affect people at different ages?

Answer: Anxiety disorders are equal opportunity. In the sense, they can affect any age group, any culture, any ethnic group. Despite that, we know that many of them have their origin in childhood, teenage years or young adulthood.

For example, panic disorder often has its onset in teens or people in early twenties or thirties. Posttraumatic stress disorders, since it's related to a trauma, can really occur at any age. Obsessive compulsive disorder, another disorder that's full of anxiety, often has an occurrence in childhood, early adulthood or teenage years.

Thus, these disorders can occur at any age. But despite that, when we see them occurring in the older age group, we're more suspicious that an illness or medication may be causing them.

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