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RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY, research-oriented diagnostic criteria, and the therapeutic use of psychopharmacologic agents based on controlled trials, have expanded our knowledge of the biology of affective states and anxiety. The nature of the biology of emotions is being unraveled, and it is now clear that it may be determinative in some affective states and anxiety. (Schildkraut et al., 1985) ; (Klein et al., 1981) ; (Gorman, 1984) ; (Gorman et al., 1985).
Kendel (1983), using animal models, suggests that there may be a basic molecular grammar underlying adaptive anxiety. Learning or unlearning anxiety may bring about alterations in gene expression which may induce structural and functional brain changes.
Biologic influence appears to be able to alter affect and anxiety and lead to disorders with or without relational or intrapsychic stimulae (Schildkraut et al., 1985), (Klein et al., 1981) ; (Gorman, 1984) ; (Gorman et al., 1985). When relational stimulae, such as separation or rejection, induce severe depression or anxiety in patients susceptible to biologic dysregulation, pathologic states of affect may assume an autonomous life of their own, independent of the original stress and interpersonal configuration.
Cooper (1985) notes, "Much of neurobiology can be seen as an effort at the level of the molecule and the cell receptor to understand the ways in which homeostasis, pleasure, and safety are