THE CLASSIFICATION OF PANIC DISORDERS - FROM FREUD TO DSM-IV

The authors trace the history of the classification of anxiety disorde rs, beginning with a detailed discussion of Freud's work on anxiety-ne urosis as a basis for subsequent work. They discuss how anxiety disord ers were described in DSM-I and DSM-II where Freud's concept of the an xiety neurosis was used as a major organizing principle. The revolutio nary change in DSM-III is described in which the term and organizing p rinciple of neurosis was dropped. The controversies that have arisen a s a result of changes in DSM-III-R are discussed, particularly as they relate to compatibility with the International Classification of Dise ases-10 (ICD-10) and especially with respect to the relationship and p riority of panic and agoraphobia. Finally the authors discuss the proc ess by which decisions will be made in DSM-IV where changes will be ba sed on systematic reviews of empirical evidence whenever possible.