PMID: 8968302Nov 1, 1996Paper

The infrequency of "pure culture" diagnoses among the anxiety disorders

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
I GoldenbergM B Keller

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are known to commonly coexist in individuals, both with other anxiety disorders and with mental disorders from other groupings, such as affective disorders. We questioned how frequently anxiety disorders actually occur in isolation, as "pure cultures." We examined diagnostic patterns among the 711 subjects entered into a large, multicenter study of anxiety disorders, the Harvard/ Brown Anxiety Disorders Research Program (HARP), which focused on panic, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobias as "index disorders" required for intake. We used various definitions for "pure culture." By all definitions, subjects with "pure culture" represented a minority, especially in cases of generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia, where comorbidity was virtually ubiquitous. "Pure culture" status was associated with later onset of illness and less chronicity. Future studies of anxiety disorder should aim to document the extensive comorbidity, rather than eliminate it by restrictive diagnostic exclusion criteria, lest they yield atypical or even misrepresented groups of patients. Clinicians should not stop at identifying only the "main" diagnosis but look for other, comorbid diagnoses that are often p...Continue Reading

Citations

Nov 25, 2000·Depression and Anxiety·W J ApfeldorfM K Shear
Apr 17, 2001·Depression and Anxiety·D L Dunner
Dec 26, 2001·Depression and Anxiety·S E BruceM B Keller
Apr 13, 2012·Depression and Anxiety·Nicolas HoertelCaroline Dubertret
Oct 21, 2015·Frontiers in Psychology·Huan ZhangJilin Zou
Oct 25, 2016·Journal of Affective Disorders·Michelle G NewmanAndrea R Zuellig
Dec 1, 2000·Depression and Anxiety·J Kaufman, D Charney
Oct 7, 1998·Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica·A Stravynski, D Greenberg
Sep 24, 1999·Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica·K J NeufeldG Cai
Jan 1, 2006·International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice·Raymond W Lam
Jul 5, 2003·Behavior Modification·James D Herbert
May 10, 2020·The Psychiatric Quarterly·Mostafa ShowrakiKimberly Brown

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