Anxiety disorders and the family: the obsessive compulsive disorder as a model

Anxiety disorders affect the lives of patient's relatives with suffering and accommodations in their activities. This impact on the patient's environment contributes to maintain the disorder and hinder the therapy. It is essential to consider this repercussion on the environment in the treatment of these disorders to obtain and improve its efficiency. Obsessive compulsive disorder illustrates well this interaction and the necessity to integrate this dimension in the therapy.