Anxiety as a symptom of mixed mania: implications for DSM-5.

The recently released preliminary proposal for the DSM-5 diagnostic system includes modification of the mixed mania diagnosis symptom set. That definition includes the long-overdue exclusion of nonspecific signs and symptoms, as well as the inclusion of psychomotor retardation. Anxiety is specifically excluded from the definition. The current report reviews studies to establish that psychomotor retardation would have limited utility in the definition, in contrast to anxiety, which is a core symptom of the mixed manic subtype.