When you next go in for a routine checkup, your primary care doctor may ask you about feelings of anxiety, if an influential health panel has its way, according to The Washington Post.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force just published its recommendations in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association.  Doctors are not obliged to follow their advice, but their recommendations typically change the way medicine is practiced in America.

Last October, the task force recommended anxiety screening for children ages 8 to 18. Now they have expanded their guidance to screen asymptomatic adults ages 19 to 64, in response to a growing mental health crisis in the United States.

Many people who experience anxiety disorders are unaware of the signs and symptoms, which can be physical or somatic, such as chest pain, dizziness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and gastrointestinal discomfort.

In the past, the task force has suggested screening for depression, but not anxiety disorders, which affect approximately 19 percent of U.S. adults in the past year. Data shows that approximately 31% of adults will be affected by anxiety at some point in their lives.

Experts applaud the recommendation. “There are a lot of patients who come to primary care who may be experiencing symptoms but don’t bring them up,” due to stigma surrounding mental health issues, said Michael Silverstein, vice chair of the task force. “So it’s about finding people and alleviating that burden earlier rather than waiting for them to come to their doctors with signs or symptoms,” he added.

“People who struggle with GI illness, pain or sleep disturbances often don’t make the connection that there might be an underlying anxiety issue contributing to that,” said Natalie Dattilo, clinical psychologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Anxiety disorders can be debilitating but, fortunately, they are also treatable. With proper screening, experts hope fewer will suffer in silence.

Read the full article here or the published recommendations in JAMA.

Learn more about anxiety disorders here.

Bever, Lindsey. “Primary care providers urged to ask about anxiety during checkups.” The Washington Post, 20 Jun 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/06/20/anxiety-screening-adults/.

Photo by Christopher Ott on Unsplash