anxiety or neurosis: case report study

Abstract

Background: With the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Third Edition (DSM-III) in 1980, anxiety disorder was first identified as a diagnostic entity. A new theoretical approach regarding aetiology of anxiety disorders came next into the view, far from Freud’s psychoanalytical pathways. The consequences were new therapeutic guidelines, including psychopharmacotherapy and the use of behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy.

Methods: The paper presents a case report study of a patient with social phobia. The use of analytical oriented psychotherapy, which helped to resolve Axis I symptoms, is described.

Conclusions: In spite of new therapeutic guidelines there is still a certain population of patients with the need for psychoanalytical oriented psychotherapy. If we are to surrender the Freud’s legacy to the medical history, we will weaken psychiatry as a science and will narrow our therapeutic field.