This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Wolfgang Maier, MD; Raimund Buller, MD
Department of Psychiatry University of Mainz Untere Zahlbacher Straβe 8 D-6500 Mainz West Germany

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1988;45(5):501.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Breier et al,¹ in the November 1986 issue of the ARCHIVES, reported retrospective data on the course of panic disorder and agoraphobia. A major finding was the chronicity of anticipatory anxiety, generalized anxiety, agoraphobia, and frequent panic attacks. The problem with these findings is that the sample may be biased for chronicity: 28 of the 60 patients had a history of anxiety disorders longer than ten years. It may be that these patients came to the research treatment program because their conditions were refractory to treatment received in a primary care setting. Patients with a more favorable course that remits during treatment often never see a psychiatrist. Previous follow-up studies² of anxiety disorders are similarly biased; the retrospective method may increase this bias. The hypothesis of chronicity in anxiety disorders therefore needs support from prospective studies in population samples. We had the opportunity to perform . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?