Why do people with anxiety disorders become depressed?
Most anxiety disorders are primary disorders that substantially increase the risk for secondary depression. It’s also common for people who are having a difficult time with an anxiety disorder to feel depressed as a result of the way anxiety is interfering with their lives. It’s my experience that most patients who experience this will find that their depression lifts naturally as a result of doing better with anxiety, and no special treatment for the depression is necessary.
If you find yourself confused about your symptoms of anxiety and depression, and what kind of trouble they may indicate, don’t struggle in silence with the confusion. Ask your doctor or therapist directly about your diagnosis.
Wittchen HU; Kessler RC; Pfister H; Lieb M Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, München, Germany. OBJECTIVE: To examine the temporal relationships of anxiety and depressive disorders, their risk factors and to explore why people with anxiety develop depression. METHOD: Data from an original 4-5-year prospective-longitudinal community study (N= 3,021) of adolescents and young adults with DSM-IV anxiety and depressive disorders identified with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview are used to examine risk factors, as well as course and outcome. RESULTS: (i) Anxiety disorders, except for panic disorder, are almost always primary conditions. (ii) Over the follow-up period, rates of comorbid anxiety-depression increased substantially and resulted in increased impairment and disabilities. (iii) Predictors for first onset of ‘pure’ depressive and ‘pure’ anxiety disorders revealed recognizable differences. (iv) Baseline clinical characteristics o
