[Interrelations of inhibition and anxiety]

Normal anxiety and inhibition play a role in the development and the structuration of the personality, and in processes of adaptation to the environment. Pathological anxiety and inhibition are expressed by different symptoms, closely associated, essentially during reactional and neurotic troubles, which are denominated "anxiety disorders" in the DSM-III. Their interrelations are important, whatever the etiological approach would be: --between inhibition, symptoms and anxiety, as far as the psychodynamic approach is concerned; --between the awakening process and the ability to delay with a behavioral point of view; --between biochemical modifications, essentially of 5-hydroxy-tryptamine and other neurotransmitters, as far as the biological approach is concerned.