RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AND DYSFUNCTIONAL BELIEFS ABOUT ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTACHMENT

Psychiatric outpatients (N = 293) provided data to test the symptom sp ecificity and final common pathway hypotheses about symptoms of depres sion and anxiety. The symptom specificity hypothesis predicts that the symptoms reported by a depressed or anxious patient depend on the dys functional beliefs he or she endorses. In contrast, the final common p athway hypothesis predicts that symptoms are unrelated to the types of beliefs the patient endorses. These hypotheses were tested in the con text of theories that emphasize the importance of dysfunctional belief s about achievement and attachment. Only limited support for the sympt om specificity hypothesis was obtained; support was strongest for the link between attachment beliefs and anxiety symptoms. Relationships be tween symptoms and dysfunctional beliefs did not depend on psychiatric diagnosis.