Historical aspects of anxiety.

Although the syndromes of anxiety have only been recognized this century, the belief that the emotion of fearful apprehension could cause physical illness has a much longer history. James Vere wrote his book entitled "A physical and moral enquiry into the causes of that internal restlessness and disorder in man which has been the complaint of all ages" in 1778. The earliest accounts of phobia, as anxiety associated with specific circumstances have been ascribed to two cases from Hippocrates, whilst one of the earliest accounts in the English language may be that of William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice describing a supposed phobia for cats. Robert Burton (1621) described various anxiety disorders in classical detail in his 'Anatomy of Melancholy'.