A member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Dr. Wayne Jones is an experienced psychiatric and integrative health counselor based in Dallas. In addition to working with patients and national organizations, Dr. Wayne Jones has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals on several of the nation’s most pressing mental health concerns, including panic disorder, various other anxiety conditions, and major depression.
Early in his career, Dr. Wayne Jones published a paper in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry titled “Alprazolam-SR in Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia: Relationship of Daily Dose to Efficacy.” The National Institute of Mental Health describes panic disorder as a mental health condition characterized by frequent, unexpected panic attacks. The discomfort and fear associated with panic disorder are exacerbated by the fact that there is rarely an obvious danger or clear trigger.
Agoraphobia, meanwhile, is an anxiety disorder defined by a chronic fear of being unable to escape from situations that may cause panic or embarrassment. Individuals living with agoraphobia may fear public transportation, for example, while those living with advanced cases of agoraphobia can find it difficult to leave their homes for any reason.
Dr. Wayne Jones served as the principal investigator for a related study, “The Short and Long-term Discontinuation of Alprazolam in the Treatment of Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia.” It is not uncommon for a person to be diagnosed with both panic disorder and agoraphobia. The two conditions feed into one another: a person who has experienced a panic attack, especially in public, begins to fear having another and does everything possible to prevent it, which includes avoiding similar locations and situations indefinitely.
In both his Journal of Clinical Psychiatry paper and the study, Dr. Wayne Jones focused on the role of Alprazolam. Part of the benzodiazepine class of medications, Alprazolam is used to treat anxiety disorders, as well as panic disorders. There is also a history of Alprazolam being used to treat agoraphobia, depression, and premenstrual syndrome. The medication can be taken via multiple methods and at different dosages. These and other options should be discussed by patients with a knowledgeable physician such as Dr. Wayne Jones. He and other medical professionals can also help with matters related to medication allergies and potentially unsafe medication combinations.
Dr. Wayne Jones has contributed to additional papers and studies involving similar conditions, such as his paper “Economic and life consequences experienced by a group of individuals with panic disorder,” which was published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders. Panic disorders and other anxiety disorders number among the most common mental health conditions in the United States, impacting roughly 40 million Americans, or nearly one in five adults. Anxiety disorders often make it difficult for individuals to engage in daily activities, such as maintaining a stable job. Studies such as these have led professionals in the medical field to recognize the economics of anxiety: mental illness costs the national economy $282 billion each year, with anxiety disorders costing more than any other condition at about $46.6 billion annually, per the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Wayne Jones has researched and written about potential medication side effects in patients living with anxiety for the Journal of Affective Disorders. Dr. Jones also functioned in the role of principal investigator for the study Multicenter Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Sertraline in the Treatment of Major Depression.