Cognitive specificity and positive-negative affectivity: complementary or contradictory views on anxiety and depression?

Article Abstract:

Contradictory views exist on the relationship between anxiety and depression. Some evidence supports the idea that these two conditions are variants of the same disorder; other research supports the view that anxiety and depression each have unique characteristics that distinguish them from each other. A sample of 470 psychiatric outpatients with a variety of disorders were tested for both common and specific characteristics of depression and anxiety. Major depressive disorder was diagnosed in 32 percent of the patients, and 42.7 percent were considered to be in an anxiety state. Other conditions included agoraphobia, social phobia, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cognitive features and measurements of positive affect ('the extent to which a person avows a zest for life') and negative affect ('the extent to which a person reports feeling upset or unpleasantly aroused') were examined in the group. The results confirmed that both specific and common factors are evident in anxiety disorders and depression. When statistical analysis was performed, a single-factor approach better explained the various measures of anxiety and depression using cognitive and symptoms measurements. However, consideration of a two-factor solution, which viewed depression and anxiety separately was shown to be a better method of analysis. The data also showed that in patient subgroups with only one diagnosed condition, a specific cognitive profile emerged for depression and anxiety. It was also found that patients within a third subgroup with mixed symptoms of anxiety and depression tended to be more severely disturbed than the more homologous patients with primary anxiety or depression only. The positive-negative affect model and Beck's cognitive content-specificity hypothesis are discussed in conjunction with the results of this study. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Complications and side effects, Affect (Psychology)

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Common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression: a replication

Article Abstract:

A study of 1000 outpatients with different psychiatric disorders using the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories for confirming the generalizability of D. A. Clark, A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer's results revealed similar values of extracted variance and symptom compositions of the resultant factor. The Schmid-Leiman transformation and the iterated principal-factor analyses were used.

Models, Beck Depression Inventory (Test)

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Screening for obsessive and compulsive symptoms: Validation of the Clark-Beck obsessive-compulsive inventory

Article Abstract:

A principal-factor analysis of the 25-items in the Clark-Beck Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (CBOCI), which was developed to assess the frequency and severity of obsessive and compulsive symptoms is presented. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients scored significantly higher on the measure than nonobsessional anxious, depressed and nonclinical samples.

United States, Diagnosis, Psychological tests, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Obsessive compulsive disorder

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