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Anxiety and medical disorders

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Abstract

Anxiety symptoms and disorders are associated with a range of general medical disorders. This association may be a physiologic consequence of the general medical disorder, a psychologic reaction to the experience of having a medical illness, a side effect of treatment, or a chance occurrence. This article briefly reviews the associations of panic disorder with seizure disorder, Klüver-Bucy syndrome, mitral valve prolapse, and respiratory disorders; of generalized anxiety disorder with chronic obstructive airway disease and cardiovascular and endocrine disorders; of social anxiety disorder with Parkinson’s disease; of obsessive-compulsive disorder with striatal disorders; and of posttraumatic stress disorder with head injury and pain. Such associations provide important clues for understanding the neurobiology of anxiety disorders.

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Muller, J.E., Koen, L. & Stein, D.J. Anxiety and medical disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep 7, 245–251 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-005-0077-5

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