Department / Division:
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences / Behavioral Medicine

Address:
DUMC 3889
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-684-0107

Office Telephone:
919-684-0107

Fax Telephone:
919-681-8627

• MD, Shah Medical College (India), 1968

• Psychiatry, Duke/Umstead Combined Psychiatric Training Program (North Carolina), 1978-1982

Clinical Interests:
Panic disorder, phobias, GAD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, affective disorders, psychopharmacology, psychosomatic disorders, ADHD

Research Interests:
My clinical research involves patients with chest pain, GI symptoms, syncope and somatization due to depression and anxiety.  However, in may of these patients, although they may have symptoms of anxiety, they may not meet the criteria for panic disorder or other psychotic disorders.  However, 50% of their pain improved with SSRI or antidepressant medicine.  Also the cost associated with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures related to their psychiatric problems.

Representative Publications:
Linzer M, Varia I, Pontinen M, Divine G, Grubb B, Estes M: Medically unexplained syncope: Relationship to psychiatric illness. American Journal of Medicine 92: 1A-245, 1992. (1992)

Linzer M, Felder A, Hackel A, Perry A, Varia I, Melville M, Krishnan K: Psychiatric syncope: A new look at an old disease. Psychosomatics 32 (2): 181-188, 1990. (1990)

Linzer M, Prystowsky E, Brunetti L, Varia L, German L: Recurrent syncope of unknown origin diagnosed by ambulatory continuous loop ECG recording. American Heart Journal 1632-1634, December 1988. (1988)

France R, Houpt J, Skott A, Krishnan R, Varia I: Depression as a psychopathological disorder in chronic pain. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 30: 127-133, 1986. (1986)