Morbidity of comorbid psychiatric diagnoses in the clinical presentation of panic disorder

This study seeks to determine how panic disorder patients with anxiety and depression comorbidity differ from panic disorder patients without comorbid ity at the time of presentation for treatment. One-hundred seventy-one pani c disorder patients presenting for their initial assessment and treatment n t the Payne Whitney Anxiety Disorders Clinic agreed to participate and comp leted self-report and diagnostic assessments. Sixty-seven percent of panic disorder subjects were found to have at least one comorbid anxiety or depre ssion diagnosis. Age and gender ratio were not affected by the presence of comorbid diagnoses. Comorbidity significantly contributed to psychological distress and symptom load, overall impairment, and interpersonal impairment . (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.