15.7 ANXIETY DISORDERS: SOMATIC TREATMENT Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry CHAPTER 15. ANXIETY DISORDERS 15.7 ANXIETY DISORDERS: SOMATIC TREATMENT

After decades of neglect and controversy, anxiety disorders are increasingly recognized as legitimate medical conditions requiring specific treatment. The unproductive debate over the primacy of biological or psychological factors in the pathophysiology of anxiety is gradually being replaced by a pragmatic approach based on research on the relative contributions of both. A parallel, unbiased approach in treatment research began to examine the merits of combined somatic and psychological treatments in anxiety. Recognition of the role of psychological factors in most medical illnesses is breaking down the artificial barrier between psychiatric and medical conditions. While the stigma of psychiatric illness remains a strong deterrent, the availability of effective treatments, frequently a combination of somatic and psychological, is a powerful incentive for patients to come forward.