PSYCHIATRIC COMORBIDITY IN PATIENTS WITH GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER

Objective: The goal of this study was to test the validity of generali ze anxiety disorder as an independent diagnostic entity and to evaluat e the prevalence and type of other psychiatric disorders coexisting wi th generalized anxiety disorder. Although a few published studies have addressed the subject, this study presents data from a larger group o f subjects and excludes concurrent major depression as a potential con found. Method: The authors studied patients with a primary diagnosis o f generalized anxiety disorder assigned after evaluation with the Stru ctured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Patients with a concurrent ma jor depressive episode were excluded. All diagnoses for which the pati ent met criteria were determined, including lifetime occurrence of maj or depressive episode and substance use. Results: One hundred nine pat ients with generalized anxiety disorder were included in the analysis. Twenty-eight (26%) of these patients were not given any other lifetim e psychiatric diagnosis. The most prevalent comorbid diagnoses were so cial phobia (25 23%! of the patients) and simple phobia (23 21%! of the patients). Forty-six (42%) of the patients with generalized anxiet y disorder had experienced at least one major depressive episode durin g their lifetime. Conclusions: These results support previous findings of high rates of psychiatric comorbidity in generalized anxiety disor der and validate the usefulness of generalized anxiety disorder as a s eparate diagnostic entity.