Primal Anxiety and Psychiatric Emergencies

Abstract

Psychiatric emergencies occur when anxieties and tensions overwhelm a weak or exhausted ego and result in irrational fight-flight reactions. The key to understandings preventing and treating these conditions rests centrally with primal anxiety. Recognition of this mental state before the acute disruptive episode, which may lead to suicide, murder, acute psychosis or group panic, is important, and family physicians are in a favorable position to meet the situation before tragedy supervenes. The distinguishing characteristics of normal anxiety, secondary anxiety and primal anxiety are presented, and symptoms and methods of handling situations seen often by the family physician are outlined.