Helen Blair Simpson is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University and Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and the OCD Research Program at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA. Yuval Neria is the Director of Trauma and PTSD Program at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Columbia University, New York, USA. Roberto Lewis-Fernández is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University and Director, Hispanic Treatment Program of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic, and New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Lecturer on Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Franklin Schneier is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Research Scientist in the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA.

'It is uncommon to read a good book on anxiety disorders. This one, however, is unusually fine. Anxiety Disorders: Theory, Research and Clinical Perspectives is highly descriptive and clinically useful. It is well researched and a pleasure to read … It is written in a compelling style, which is a benefit to the student, clinician, or educated layman. The references are excellent and the index is helpful. This is a good book for any clinician interested in anxiety. It covers theory, diagnoses, treatment, and future directions … I highly recommend it.' James Allen Wilcox, Annals of Clinical Psychiatry

• Foreword Jeffrey Lieberman; 1. Introduction: the need for an interdisciplinary approach Helen Blair Simpson, Yuval Neria, Roberto Lewis-Fernández and Franklin R. Schneier; Part I. Evolving Concepts of Anxiety: 2. The epidemiology of anxiety disorders Jonathan S. Comer and Mark Olfson; 3. Development of the nosology of anxiety disorders Michael B. First, Desiree K. Caban and Roberto Lewis-Fernández; 4. The emergence of social phobia as a major medical condition Michael R. Liebowitz; 5. Anxiety as signal, symptom and syndrome Robert A. Glick and Steven P. Roose; 6. New concepts in the evolution and development of anxiety Myron A. Hofer; Part II. Challenges in Diagnosing Pathological Anxiety: 7. Challenges in OCD research: overcoming heterogeneity Anthony Pinto, Marco A. Grados and Helen Blair Simpson; 8. Is there a spectrum of social anxiety disorder? Franklin R. Schneier and Jami Socha; 9. Co-occurring anxiety and depression: concepts, significance, and treatment implications Patrick J. McGrath and Jeffrey M. Miller; 10. Understanding health anxiety Kelli Jane K. Harding, Natalia Skritskaya, Emily R. Doherty and Brian A. Fallon; 11. Axis II and anxiety disorders Matthew J. Kaplowitz and John C. Markowitz; 12. 'Idioms of distress' (culturally salient indicators of distress) and anxiety disorders Devon E. Hinton and Roberto Lewis-Fernández; Part III. Understanding the Causes of Anxiety: 13. Current status of research in the genetics of anxiety disorders Nicole R. Nugent, Myrna Weissman, Abby Fyer and Karestan C. Koenen; 14. Animal models of anxiety disorders: behavioral and genetic approaches Jesse W. Richardson-Jones, E. David Leonardo, Rene Hen and Susanne E. Ahmari; 15. Role of the cortex in the regulation of anxiety states Noelia V. Weisstaub, Caitlin McOmish, James Hanks and Jay A. Gingrich; 16. Learned fear and innate anxiety in rodents and their relevance to human anxiety disorders Joshua A. Gordon and Avishek Adhikari; 17. Brain systems underlying anxiety disorders: a view from neuroimaging Amit Etkin and Tor D. Wager; 18. Cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders: model and current issues James P. Hambrick, Jonathan S. Comer and Anne Marie Albano; 19. The stressor Criterion A in post-traumatic stress disorder: issues, evidence, and implications Bruce Dohrenwend; 20. Attachment, separation, and anxiety disorders Elizabeth Sagurton Mulhare, Angela Ghesquiere and M. Katherine Shear; 21. Non-human primate models in understanding anxiety Navin A. Natarajan, Ranjeeb Shrestha and Jeremy D. Coplan; Part IV. Treatment of Anxiety: Current Status and Controversial Issues: 22. Evidence-based treatment for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: questions and controversies Carolyn Rodriguez and Helen Blair Simpson; 23. Treatment of social anxiety disorder Franklin R. Schneier, Kristin Pontoski and Richard G. Heimberg; 24. Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder Gregory M. Sullivan, Eun Jung Suh and Yuval Neria; 25. Panic disorder Smit S. Sinha and Donald F. Klein; 26. Treatment of late-life generalized anxiety disorder Laszlo A. Papp, Ethan E. Gorenstein and Jan Mohlman; 27. Childhood anxiety disorders: best treatment options and practice Hilary B. Vidair and Moira A. Rynn; 28. Brain stimulation in the treatment of anxiety disorders Antonio Mantovani and Sarah H. Lisanby; 29. Complementary and alternative medicine approaches to the treatment of anxiety Sapana R. Patel, Anthony J. Tranguch and Philip R. Muskin; 30. The treatment of anxiety disorders in primary care Mayumi Okuda, Sharaf S. Khan, Ana Alicia de la Cruz and Carlos Blanco; 31. Future directions Helen Blair Simpson, Yuval Neria, Roberto Lewis-Fernández and Franklin R. Schneier; Index.