Are There Reasons to Fear Anxiety Screening?

Abstract

Mental disorders are a leading cause of disease burden worldwide, with anxiety disorders being the second most influential contributor, after depressive disorders, to global disabilityadjusted life-years. 1 Anxiety disorders are characterized by anxious mood and, often, phobic avoidance, which result in extreme distress, functional impairment, or both. 2,3 The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) (DSM-5) recognizes the following types of anxiety disorders likely to be seen in adults: generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, substance/ medication-induced anxiety disorder, and anxiety disorder due to another medical condition. 4 The latter 2 instances of anxiety are caused by identifiable and, mostly, treatable sources and should be considered "rule-outs" before concluding that one of the other anxiety disorders is present.Anxiety disorders typically have onset early in life, hence the importance of screening for anxiety in children and adolescents when there is the opportunity to promptly intervene and prevent what can often be lifelong impairment. 5 There are

Brain health measurement: a scoping review

“…The main advantages of incorporating mental health screening when evaluating brain health include the opportunity for early detection and treatment of common mental health conditions such as depression 38 and anxiety 39 ; distinguish symptoms due to poor brain health from those relating to poor mental health 40 ; and promote evidence-based practices that encourage better mental health which can in turn contribute to improving brain health, such as exercise 41 and sleep interventions. 42 Challenges researchers may encounter when implementing mental health screening include their self-reported nature, false positives, resource constraints and difficulty performing exhaustive screening for all conditions or selecting specific tests.…”

“… 42 Challenges researchers may encounter when implementing mental health screening include their self-reported nature, false positives, resource constraints and difficulty performing exhaustive screening for all conditions or selecting specific tests. 39 Mental health screening tools suffer from similar methodological issues as cognitive tests—validation is inconsistent across populations, cultures, educational background; some are subject to assessor or performance bias; and there is no single gold-standard test available that can measure a person’s mental health. 43 …”

“…42 Challenges researchers may encounter when implementing mental health screening include their selfreported nature, false positives, resource constraints and difficulty performing exhaustive screening for all conditions or selecting specific tests. 39 Mental health screening tools suffer from similar methodological issues as cognitive tests-validation is inconsistent across populations, cultures, educational background; some are subject to assessor or performance bias; and there is no single gold-standard test available that can measure a person's mental health. 43 Other methods Other methods of brain health evaluation such as clinical diagnoses, EEG and lifestyle or patient-reported brain health scores are all potentially useful methods to measure other aspects of brain health but are all subject to bias and problems with reproducibility, cost and practical issues.…”