Question:
Is panic disorder / anxiety mostly tied to modern times because of the fast
paced, often hectic lifestyle?
Did the population, say, 100 years ago experience the same percent of people
with the disorder? I'm really interested to know if it's as common today as
it was in the past. I'm curious as to the history of it.
Answer:
Is panic disorder / anxiety mostly tied to modern times because of the fast
paced, often hectic lifestyle?
Did the population, say, 100 years ago experience the same percent of people
with the disorder? I'm really interested to know if it's as common today as
it was in the past. I'm curious as to the history of it.
And what medication would have been available then?! wow...I can only
imagine. Sometimes I thank god (or whoever's supervising the 40-watt bulb
at the end of the tunnel) just that we have the doctors and medicine
available today! I think long, long ago, they would have locked you up in a
room; and threw away the room!
It's ironic I suppose. The fast paced, high pressure, hi-tech life that can
cause such anxiety also has helped develop the cures (in the doctors and
medicine) at the same time.
I believe pd has always existed but it was one of those "family secrets"
that one did not talk about. When I first started doctoring back in the
early 80's doctors knew very little, if anything about pd. When I asked one
doctor about agorophobia he said, "What's that?" I had an aunt who has also
suffered and when she has bad times she always ended up in an institution.
So, I guess we are very fortunate for all that has become known about pd.
Let's hope they keep working at it and find something to cure it. It is
probably something really simple - like eating a can of green beans for
breakfast, lunch and dinner
Anxiety and panic disorders are actually older than recorded history. Cases of
anxiety and panic disorders have even been documented in non-human primates.
For a thorough collection of historical notes, see the "Chronology" in the "ASAP
Dictionary of Anxiety and Panic Disorders."
Consequently, I am currently co-authoring a book on the history of anxiety disorders
with a professor friend of mine.
In times past, people were locked away in rooms, or even burned at the stake as witches.
However, there have always been anxiety medications of one kind or another (things
like opium, alcohol, herbals, and even specially prepared deer urine), but the past
medications were certainly inferior to the medications available today.
