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Evidence for a General Neurotic Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Gavin Andrews ,
Gavin Stewart ,
Allen Morris-Yates ,
Phoebe Holt  and
Scott Henderson
Gavin Andrews*
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety Disorders, The University of New South Wales at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
Gavin Stewart
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety Disorders, University of New South Wales
Allen Morris-Yates
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety Disorders, University of New South Wales
Phoebe Holt
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety Disorders, University of New South Wales
Scott Henderson
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2606, Australia
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Neurotic syndromes are defined by characteristic patterns of symptoms, but the validity of the distinction between one syndrome and another depends on associations between the syndromes and clinical history, or treatment response factors that are independent of the defining phenomena. In both a group of twin volunteers and a group of patients with panic disorder/agoraphobia, the lifetime experience of more than one diagnosis of a neurotic syndrome was common but there was no evidence of patterns of co-occurrence of diagnoses being associated with particular syndromes. Receiving a diagnosis was associated with abnormal scores on measures of neuroticism and locus of control, the extent of the abnormality increasing with the number of different diagnoses satisfied. It is argued that the concept of a general neurotic syndrome depends in part on the presence of such predisposing personality factors, and that reduction in this predisposition to neurosis should be the focus of treatment.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 1 , July 1990 , pp. 6 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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