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The zurich study

VI. A continuum from depression to anxiety disorders?

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Summary

A representative sample of 456 persons from the normal population aged 22 and 23 years was used to study the overlap of depression with anxiety disorders. The 1-year prevalence rate for major depression (DSM-III), minor depression, and anxiety disorder together was 16.4%. The observed cases of major depression cooccurred in 36% with anxiety disorder, the cases with minor depression in 60%. On the level of symptoms assessed by a semistructured clinical interview and on the level of self-assessed items of the symptom check list SCL-90, the overlap was even greater. The main finding was that subjects with both diagnoses, depression and anxiety disorder, were more severely affected in general. Discriminant analyses of the SCL-90 scales together with the qualitative distribution of SCL items characterizing depression, anxiety, or phobia, did not disprove the hypothesis of a continuum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Department, Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, P.O. Box 68, CH-8029, Zurich, Zwitzerland

    J. Angst & A. Dobler-Mikola

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  1. J. Angst
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  2. A. Dobler-Mikola
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Project supported by grants 3.804.76 and 3.956.80 from the Swiss National Science Foundation

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Angst, J., Dobler-Mikola, A. The zurich study. Eur Arch Psychiatr Neurol Sci 235, 179–186 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380990

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380990

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