Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Alexander Bystritsky, M. To examine a large sample of patients with anxiety and the association between types of complementary and alternative treatments that were used, demographic variables, diagnostic categories, and treatment outcomes. Cross-sectional and longitudinal survey during the Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management CALM study that assessed this intervention against the Usual Care in a sample of patients with anxiety recruited from primary care.
Interviewer-administered questionnaires via a centralized telephone survey by blinded assessment raters. The interviews were done at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months of the study. Only a few significant demographic or interventional characteristics of CAM users were found. Users most often had a diagnosis of GAD, were older, more educated, and had two or more chronic medical conditions. The study confirms the importance of awareness of CAM use in this population for possible interference with traditional first-line treatments of these disorders, but also for finding the best integrative use for patients who require multiple treatment modalities.
Conventional medicine has been successful in the treatment of anxiety disorders for many patients, yet so many others feel the need to seek the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine CAM for supplemental relief. To examine the prevalence and patterns of use of CAM in patients with anxiety, we utilized a sample of patients who previously participated in the Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management CALM study.
Combined with increased awareness, changing health practices, fear of addiction to conventional medications, and possible dissatisfaction with conventional care, 5 - 7 the prevalence of CAM has been increasing for decades both worldwide 8 and in the United States, specifically, 9 with a substantial 8. Those with psychiatric disorders are highly prone to using CAM.
This is particularly true for the patients with anxiety who have marked impairment in daily functioning, use an extensive amount of health care resources, and yet continue to have difficulty in achieving full remission of their condition.
