ABSTRACT
Anxiety is a common symptom physicians encounter in consultations to pulmonary services of general hospitals—more so than depression. One way of thinking about the relationship between anxiety and panic that may help clarify the relationship between overall anxiety levels and the frequency of panic attacks is an interactive model. The greater the background level of anxiety, whether related to acute or chronic situational anxiety or to life stress or marked anticipatory anxiety, the greater the frequency of panic attacks. Some drugs may actually block anxiety, while other drugs may reduce anxiety and work more indirectly by reducing the frequency or threshold for paroxysmal or chronic discharges from the locus coeruleus or similar or interrelated structures. Agoraphobia with panic attacks is an anxiety syndrome complicated frequently by the presence of depression. Compared to depression, pathological anxiety is an emotional state that has received little attention in the field of psychiatric research, despite its more frequent occurrence.
