ANXIETY SENSITIVITY AND THE PATHOGENESIS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION - EVIDENCE FOR SYMPTOM SPECIFICITY

Expectancy theory posits that anxiety sensitivity (AS) acts as a speci fic risk factor for the development of anxiety pathology (Reiss, 1991) . Previous work suggests that AS is a risk factor for anxiety but seve ral reports have found that AS is also related to depression. The prin cipal aim of the present study was to determine whether anxiety sensit ivity acts as a specific vulnerability factor in the pathogenesis of a nxiety and depression in both a large nonclinical sample (N = 1401) as well as a patient sample (N = 53). A covariance analytic strategy ind icated that AS possesses symptom specificity with respect to anxiety b ut is not predictive of depression when accounting for changes in anxi ety symptoms. Component analyses suggest, however, that one first-orde r-factor (phrenophobia) is likely to account for the association betwe en AS and depression because it is non-specific (i.e. associated with unique aspects of both anxiety and depression). It is concluded that m uch of the general association noted between anxiety sensitivity and d epression is likely to be due to covariation among symptoms of anxiety and depression. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.