title: Comorbidity in the anxiety disorders: the use of a life-chart approach.
abstract: Findings of comorbidity across the anxiety and depressive disorders have implications for aetiology, diagnosis and treatment. This paper describes a method to assess one aspect of the relationship between comorbid disorders: the degree to which one illness experience is believed to be caused by the earlier experience of a different illness. The life-chart method involves the use of a semi-structured interview to document the lifetime course of disorders. The method was reliable in a sample of patients treated at a specialized treatment unit for anxiety disorders. Patients fell into three major groupings: those with one disorder only (19%); those who fulfilled criteria for two or more disorders, but with one disorder primary and other disorders secondary to it (55%); and those who fulfilled criteria for two or more independent disorders (26%).
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety Disorders, School of Psychiatry, UNSW at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andrews
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011594:Psychometrics