Melancholia and Depression: From Hippocratic Times to Modern Times

It is estimated that 13 million people in the United States daily suffer from an anxiety disorder. Goodwin's book on this condition begins with a six-chapter historical perspective on the concept of anxiety. The second part of the work introduces treatment. Part 3 deals with the anxiety disorders as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-III. The book is a concise formulation and will be helpful to anyone living in the '80s, the "age of anxiety." Anxiety is an emotion that signifies a danger that cannot be identified or, if identified, is not sufficiently threatening to justify the intensity of the emotion. Fear signifies a known danger, with the strength of the fear more or less proportionate to the degree of danger. Anxiety is generally thought to be undesirable, fear useful.