Treatment of anxiety disorders in the beginning of the 21st century

Anxiety disorders are a broad category of psychological disorders well represented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) (APA, 1994) and with a high prevalence among the general population. Cognitive-behavioral interventions have been highly effective procedures to treat anxiety disorders, comprising an effective battery of specific techniques. This article is concerned with the latest research on the treatment of the different anxiety disorders, such as specific phobia, social phobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. A general overview on the current cognitive-behavioral and pharmacological treatments of these disorders is presented and some future directions for the improvement of the effectiveness of these kinds of treatment are given.