Anxiety seems to be an ever-growing part of everyday life. Everyone believes he has a pretty good idea of what anxiety is; we all know more-or-less synonymous terms for anxiety, such as "nervousness, tension, jitteriness, edginess, jumpiness, irritability," and so forth. But what is the definition of anxiety?

Psychiatric Medications, sometimes called psychotropics (literally, "mind-growers"), have become a powerful tool in the treatment of mental illness. However, much ignorance remains about their uses and effects, resulting in undertreatment and stigmatization of patients, In this article, I have endeavored to address the most common questions and misunderstandings surrounding psychotropic medications.

As a psychiatrist who treats a large number of OCD patients, I have witnessed the increasing intrusion of managed care into the field of mental health over the past few years, and the resulting erosion of the availability of quality care to anyone with basic health coverage. Sufferers of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder are, in my opinion, especially vulnerable to the kinds of restrictions to appropriate care that most managed mental health plans impose.

I am often asked, "Dr. Schloss, what is the best medication to treat OCD?" The answer is that there is no one medication that is effective in treating OCD for every patient. While there are a number of medications that produce significant improvement in OCD symptoms in many patients, I am used to seeing patients who have little or no response to the first medication prescribed for them, but who then go on to enjoy excellent results from the second.