[Anxiety disorders--syndrome, personality and relationships. Results of multi-methodology diagnosis]

Patients attending the Polyclinic of the Psychiatry Department of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich for ambulatory examination and counseling because of panic anxiety states with agoraphobia, were investigated using methods of descriptive-phenomenological diagnostic evaluation of syndromes and personality (structured clinical interviews on the basis of DSM III Criteria) and with methods of empirical married couple and family diagnostic evaluation (Giessen-Paar-Test, Family-Assessment-Measure). On the basis of the findings established on three different observational planes--syndrome, personality and inter-personal relationships--it was shown that anxiety disorders are expressed not merely in the symptomatology (panic disorders) and the behavior (e.g. agoraphobia) of the patient; rather, evidence of co-morbidity involving (concomitant?) personality disorders was found in almost 50% of the patients investigated. In comparison with non-clinical control groups, the patients and their partners also indicated considerable disorders in the emotive field and in their affective relationships and contact with others.