The Anxious Patient

Anxiety appears in many disguises and mimics most other afflictions. Once the anxious patient has been recognized as such and a proper diagnosis is made, management of him is easily carried out within the framework of the medical transaction. Lack of awareness of underlying anxiety in a patient who presents with somatic complaints can lead to poor results for the patient and frustration for the physician. It is not the physician''s role to remove all anxiety. Rather, it is his mission to manage the anxious patient so as to mediate the anxiety allowing for integrated adaptive function.