Views of practicing psychiatrists on the treatment of anxiety and somatoform disorders.

Psychiatrists in Australia were asked to recommend treatments for several anxiety and somatoform disorders. In previous surveys they had agreed about the preferred treatments for schizophrenia and major affective disorder but not about treatments for "neurotic depression" or agoraphobia. In the present survey, no treatment was regarded as critical by a majority of psychiatrists for any of the five anxiety and somatoform disorders studied. The authors conclude that because neurotic disorders form an important part of the workload of psychiatrists, consensus procedures should be used to develop guidelines for treatment until the research literature can provide more adequate guidance.