[A new scale of quantitative and qualitative evaluation of anxiety: the Ferrerri Anxiety Rating Diagram (FARD)].

This new instrument to evaluate anxiety, the F.A.R.D. (Ferreri anxiety rating diagram - 1987) has been conceived to appreciate the repercussions of anxiety on the activity of the subject. It realizes a special image of anxiety. It has been studied, by both psychiatrists and general practitioners in 320 patients included on generalised anxiety disorders criteria (following DMS III). The validation has been realised in a study of prazepam for 81 patients. The F.A.R.D. is based upon 12 items. The factor analysis has retained 4 factors explaining 66% of the whole variance. These 4 factors composed by 3 items each are: relational, somatic, vigilance, cognitive. This new instrument, the F.A.R.D.: evaluates the intensity of anxiety, precision, the shape of anxiety, specifies sub-groups of anxiety, allows a following of evolution, appreciates the pharmaco-clinical profile of the anxiolytic drug prescribed.