Psychophysiological Response Patterns in Anxiety

Abstract

Prior to the re-classification of anxiety disorders in DSM-III,¹ few attempts were made to distinguish subgroups of patients classified under the broad umbrella of “anxiety neurosis.” The discovery that antidepressants prevent the recurrence of panic attacks without affecting anticipatory anxiety or simple phobic reactions² led to the separation of “panic disorder” from “generalized anxiety disorder.” In a survey of our anxiety clinic population, we found that the two disorders differed in cardiopulmonary symptomatology but not in muscular, gastrointestinal or psychic symptoms.