[Anxiety disorder and Freud's disease].

OBJECTIVE

The author examined Freud's chest pains and arrhythmia beginning in late 1893 according to the new available data and modern psychiatry.

METHOD: Published studies and recent findings were reviewed. The major works of Freud were also considered. Among the issues examined are clinical features, comorbidity, boundaries with others disorders.

RESULTS

The findings of this review provided support for the dual diagnosis of panic disorder without agoraphobia and nicotine dependence.

CONCLUSIONS

Freud's scientific learning was wide-ranging and his scientific ambition vast. During this period (1893-1897) Freud laid the foundations for the theory of anxiety. He referred to the conditions caused by the dammed-up libido as the actual neuroses. Although the work of Freud has the same aim as the modern DSM-IV, the classification of the Austrian author reflects a different tradition. A discrepancy exists between "anxiety neurosis" (Freud) and "anxiety disorder" (DSM-IV).