INTRODUCTION
The expert panelist from the nation’s top panel has recommended that doctors routinely screen all adults under the age of 65 for anxiety disorder. According to the research done by the world health organization in 2022, there has been an increase in anxiety disorders among adults between the ages of 19 to 65. In the United States, it is estimated that one in every five people suffers from depression and anxiety disorder at some point ( Thompson, 2023). This depends on various circumstances in life; for instance, during the first year of the pandemic, the situation got worse as depression and anxiety disorder increased by 25% as per the world health organization, while the American Psychiatric Association records an increment of 5% of people suffering from anxiety disorder this year as compared to last year ( Thompson, 2023). This raised concerns among the research institutions such as the U.S Preventive Services Task Force and the American Psychiatric Association to come up with solutions as summarized below.
SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE
The U.S Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), through the Journal of the American medical association, has shown evidence that anxiety screening aids people suffering from anxiety disorder to find peace of mind by reducing the symptoms of anxiety and having the benefit around the general quality of life ( Thompson, 2023). There was a recommendation by the task force that adults should be regularly screened to identify the conditions earlier and link the screening to quality mental health care to benefit the ones who have been affected.
Despite the recommendation on the screening, the task force asked for people over the age of 65 to be screened as it needed to see the quality of evidence from the outcome. The task force also notes that there was no need to screen adults who do not have the symptoms as there was not enough evidence to recommend so ( Thompson, 2023). The task force came up with the recommendations for screening since anxiety disorder was common among adults and was not meant for only the affected people going to their doctor with complaints of depression and anxiety. However, they recommended that people’s family doctors do screening as a regular check-up by using a set of recommended and proven real questions for detecting mood disorders. The task force came up with two screening tools which are GAD-2 which consists of two questions, and GAD-7, which consists of seven similar questions. The depression guidelines also consisted of a few numbers of practical screening tools, and it had two to fifteen questions ( Thompson, 2023). The task force further recommended that the clinical officers mandated to screen should be well equipped with the training to monitor positive screens with a few questions such as the period of the symptoms, the level of distress and impairment, and the current and or past medical history to the way the medical significance and the necessity for treatment
On the other hand, the American Psychiatric Association ( APA) differed from the task force by believing that anxiety disorder should also be done to seniors ( people aged 65 years and above). It suggests that the screening should start with a short and standardized instrument such as GAD-2. They further recommended that it will be of value to perform a test of suicide risk on people who screen positive for depression rather than conducting the screening to everyone; this will help in pointing out depressed individuals that are at risk for suicide and make the information available on the kind of care they require ( Thompson, 2023). According to the APA’s opinion, the screening would have been more balanced and reasonable if those individuals with positive signs for depression considered them as having a high risk for committing suicide, and that was mainly found in the group of people above the age of 65.
CONCLUSION
Mental health is equally important to every person despite age; however, from the research that has been analyzed above, adults face more challenges, such as anxiety disorder and depression, as identified by the USPSTF, which is an independent national panel institution consisting of experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine, the recommendation that they give carries weight in the society, the taskforce recommends screening to be done to people from the age of 19 to 65 which were found to be prone to anxiety disorders while the American Psychiatric Association recommends that the screening should also be done to people over the age of 65 as they are also prone to depression and are that they are highly exposed to suicide risk. Research, especially which involves our state of health, is fundamental; it is essential to appreciate the efforts of such experts and the recommendation they give to boost our mental health condition; however, it will be of great significance for the institutions and experts to work together to come up with concrete and comprehensive recommendations which all would take with a collective aim of improving our mental health.
REFERENCE
Thompson D. (2023). Screen All Adults Under Age 65 For Anxiety Disorders, Expert Panel Says. Health Day
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