The association between somatic symptoms, anxiety disorders and substance use. A literature review.

The aim of this article is to review the association between somatic symptoms, anxiety disorders and substance use. A Pub Med based literature review was conducted using various combinations of keywords related to substance use, somatic symptoms and anxiety. In various studies somatic symptoms were found to be associated with substance use. Anxiety disorders were found to have a high co-morbidity with substance use in most studies. However, several of the reviewed studies also included depressive symptoms which might have confounded the results. None of the studies was specifically aimed to find out if somatic symptoms in substance users represent an underlying primary anxiety disorder. Somatic symptoms and anxiety disorders are commonly noticed in substance users. Further studies are needed to clarify these associations since they may have significant clinical implications.