Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:1331-1334
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Views of practicing psychiatrists on the treatment of anxiety and somatoform disorders
G Andrews, D Hadzi-Pavlovic, H Christensen and R Mattick
School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
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.
