Explained and unexplained medical symptoms in generalized anxiety and panic disorder: relationship to the somatoform disorders.

Journal Article (Journal Article;Multicenter Study)

We have examined the numbers and types of symptoms in a sample of 90 patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 77 patients with panic disorder (PD) collected from six different sites during the conduct of a multicenter clinical trial. This information was obtained utilizing the Health Questionnaire, a 47-item self-report list of medical symptoms, patterned after the Somatization Disorder section of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Although the patients in this sample had a wide variety of medically explained and unexplained physical symptoms, none of them qualified for a diagnosis of somatization disorder by DSM-III-R criteria. GAD and PD patients reported remarkably similar numbers of explained and unexplained medical symptoms. The panoply of somatic symptoms presented by these patients presents a formidable diagnostic challenge for clinicians. These findings suggest that the pattern of overutilization of medical services that is well documented for PD patients may also be found for GAD patients.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Barbee, JG; Todorov, AA; Kuczmierczyk, AR; Mancuso, DM; Schwab, JJ; Maddock, RJ; Hoehn-Saric, R; Kelley, LA; Davidson, JR

Published Date

  • September 1997

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 9 / 3

Start / End Page

  • 149 - 155

PubMed ID

  • 9339880

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1040-1237

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1023/a:1026225923747

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States