Cardiovascular symptoms are often present in descriptions of patients with panic disorder, and are considered a central element in current diagnostic criteria. These patients often visit emergency wards complaining of chest pain or discomfort. In many cases, a possible psychiatric diagnosis is not considered, and these patients are often incorrectly diagnosed and treated. The aim of this study is to examine the presence of panic disorder in those patients who visit a general hospital emergency ward with chest pain, and are then released after no organic pathology is found. We present the results obtained from the examination of 112 patients with these characteristics who were given a structured interview developed for the diagnosis of affective and anxiety disorders. In the sample studied, panic disorder was found in 47.3% of the subjects.

The paper reports on the clinical characteristics, treatment and results of a group of 41 patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. All patients were diagnosed according to DSM-III criteria. Mean age was 18.6 years, within a range from 12 to 33 years. The group was formed by 40 female patients and 1 male. Twenty-nine percent of the patients had previously received treatment. Duration of treatment fell within a range of 10–36 months, 18–24 being the most frequent. Forty-four and a half percent of the patients were admitted to hospital with a 59-day mean time of hospitalization and treatment was positive in over 80% of cases. Two patients suffered a relapse during the first 2 or 3 years, but later recovered. Five years after the beginning of treatment, 1 patient suffered a relapse and received supplementary treatment.

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