Aggression and anxiety are among the most common phenomena needing medical control, especially in acute mental disorders. Today we can choose from a confusingly large array of drugs which can quickly control these two kinds of emotional and behavioural disorders. Everyday practice shows that these two groups of symptoms, seemingly so different from one another, can be treated with the same drugs. If we probe more deeply into the matter, we find that the similarities in these effects include not only inhibition of aggressiveness and anxiety but also their enhancement, activation, and provocation. These effects seem to form a regular pattern: those that increase aggressiveness (sympathicomimetics, catecholamines, ‘activating’ antidepressants, psychostimulants, and anti-Parkinsonics (cholinolytics)) also tend to increase anxiety, while those that decrease aggressiveness (beta-blockers, neuroleptics (major tranquillisers), ‘sedative’ antidepressants, minor tranquilisers, hypnotics, analgesics, and anticonvulsants) also tend to decrease anxiety.