SUBTHRESHOLD SYNDROMES OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN THE COMMUNITY

Nearly 50% of individuals in the community meet threshold or subthresh old diagnostic criteria for depression or anxiety, with depression bei ng far more common. Co-occurrence of anxiety and depression is common, as the majority of individuals who experience anxiety also manifest t hreshold- or subthreshold-level depression. In the current study, addi tion of subthreshold categories improved the coverage of treated cases in the community by nearly a third; 61% of subjects were diagnosed ac cording to threshold criteria while 89% were diagnosed according to su bthreshold categories. These results suggest that inclusion of subthre shold-level syndromes enhances the validity of diagnostic systems by i ncreasing the proportion of treated cases that meet diagnostic criteri a and by providing a more accurate representation of milder syndromes of depression and anxiety.