"COLD PRESSOR TEST" IN TENSION AND ANXIETY

Abstract

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Heart Rate-Tachycardia and Anxiety. —The increased pulse rate in anxiety states is so well recognized that some psychiatrists question the existence of true anxiety in its absence. In the full-blown acute anxiety state palpitation as a symptom of tachycardia and other factors is all but universal. The clinical picture in such an attack corresponds in many respects to that produced by the normal changes associated with excessive exertion and represents a physiologic symptom complex. In persons suffering from the debilitation of such diseases as influenza, typhoid, tuberculosis or hyperthyroidism, the threshold to the precipitation of this symptom complex is reduced, and it may appear in a state of normal or even diminished physical exertion. Da Costa 1 studied the appearance of this syndrome in the soldiers engaged in the Civil War in this country. Lewis, 2 during the World War, made an exhaustive study of soldiers