Cognitive and emotional impairments in patients with protracted anxiety-phobic disorders

Abstract

To study cognitive and emotional impairments in patients with anxiety-phobic disorders (APDs), to comparatively analyze the clinical manifestations of acute (less than one-year) and protracted (1-to-5-year) forms of this disease, and to evaluate the efficacy of noofen used to treat this pathology. Sixty-two patients aged 18 to 50 years with APDs were examined. The investigators collected clinical history data, performed neurological examination, and assessed autonomic disorders in accordance with the questionnaire to reveal their signs, anxiety using the Hamilton anxiety rating scale, memory impairment employing the methods developed by A.R. Luria, attention disorders applying the test of variables of attention, and diagnosed emotional intelligence using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test. Noofen 1000 mg/day was used to treat the patients. Protracted APDs were shown to be characterized by the higher degree of psychosomatic symptoms and by more pronounced impairments in attention, memory, and emotional intelligence. The data of posttreatment clinical and psychological studiesare indicative of improvements in 73.3% of cases. The findings may lead to the conclusion that noofen is highly effective in the treatment of patients with protracted APDs.