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Classification of Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Peter Tyrer
Peter Tyrer*
Affiliation:
Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham NG3 6AA
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Summary

Current psychiatric classifications of anxiety are examined critically. In the European literature a specific cluster of symptoms is diagnostic of anxiety neurosis and their subsidiary classification is based on precipitating factors and duration of symptoms. In the American literature, exemplified by DSM-III, greater emphasis is placed on symptomatic classification and panic is given separate diagnostic status, both alone and in conjunction with agoraphobia. In both classifications generalized anxiety is at the bottom of a diagnostic hierarchy so that all other symptoms take precedence. It is argued that neither classification properly identifies a discrete syndrome of pathological anxiety that is recognizable in clinical practice.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 144 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 78 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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