[Stress and anxiety]

Stressful events, either of traumatic quality or of lesser intensity but repetitive, are a frequent antecedent in the development of anxiety disorders. The Stress Reactivity Index modulates the intensity of the "life event effect", and can be considered as a marker of vulnerability to stress. In susceptible subjects, a vicious circle process tends to feed the anxiety-producing mechanisms, long after the original initiating factors have disappeared.