In-depth journalism about anxiety disorders.

From Canada's Globe and Mail, this article provides a nice overview of anxiety disorders, and profiles a patient being treated for social anxiety.

From the piece:

Dr. Hawley, a 34-year-old CAMH psychologist with a dry wit and a Johnny Cash ward-robe, had told them on their first day that they had taken a major step toward surmounting their fears by being there. CBT, particularly in group sessions, is the most effective treatment known for social anxiety, he had explained.

It wouldn't erase their fears, he said, but it would school them to understand, confront and overcome them. And, as with any class, there would be homework – they would be required to record and analyze their thought patterns, learn to counter them, and arrange “exposures” to the situations that make them anxious.

Eventually, they would be asked to do the unthinkable and deliberately draw negative attention to themselves – bump into a door, mispronounce words, spill a drink – in order to realize “the world doesn't end.”

“We've had people wet their armpits to make it look like they've been sweating profusely, or tuck toilet paper into their pants and walk around the office,” Dr. Hawley says.

For now, he and his assistant, Keegan Barker, a PhD student training at CAMH, began with the basics, describing their anxiety as a predictable cycle unleashed by social “triggers,” and asking the group to share theirs...

Part of a series of articles on mental health in the Globe and Mail; good to see a general publication giving such deep coverage to these conditions.