Anxiety Patterns in Angina Pectoris

O.fF THE various medical syndromes, an-gina pectoris is perhaps unique in that an emotional symptom is included among the im-portant diagnostic features of the disease. Part of the original classic description given by Heberden in 1768, this emotional state is known as angor animi. Angor animi has been variously defined as a sense of imminent dissolution, an over-whelming fear of impending death, and an actual feeling of dying (16). Of the three outstanding features of the syndrome, namely, pain, breathlessness, and angor animi, there is unanimity only concerning the symptom of pain. Authorities differ both as to the univer-sality and the diagnostic significance of angor animi. Some observers state that the patient is invariably terrorized no matter how many at-tacks he has had or how well he understands the nature of his difficulty (1, 5). Others com-pletely omit the psychological aspect from