Anxiety, depression, or other psychiatric symptoms can be the primary cause of dizziness and the secondary complication of dizziness. Regardless of precedence or consequence, dizziness is closely associated with the psychiatric problem. On this ground, this chapter reviews the association between dizziness and anxiety and the treatment for dizziness with psychiatric symptoms.
Persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a chronic functional vestibular disorder that manifests with 3 or more months of dizziness, nonspinning vertigo, and unsteadiness. These main symptoms are exacerbated by upright posture, active or passive self-motion, and exposure to visual stimuli. PPPD is usually precipitated by illnesses that cause vertigo, dizziness, or unsteadiness. The common precipitants are acute or episodic peripheral vestibular diseases including vestibular neuritis, Meniere disease, or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. PPPD is not a diagnosis of exclusion. An abnormal finding on examination or laboratory testing does not necessarily exclude a diagnosis of PPPD. This article reviewed the Bárány Society’s diagnostic criteria for PPPD in detail and discussed directions of future investigations.