title: Severity and internal consistency of self-reported anxiety in psychotic outpatients.
abstract: To assess the severity of self-reported anxiety in psychiatric adult outpatients (> or = 18 yr. old) who were diagnosed with psychotic disorders, the Beck Anxiety Inventory was administered to 55 (50%) women and 55 (50%) men who were diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or delusional disorders. The internal consistency of the scores was high (coefficient alpha=.92), and the scores were not significantly correlated with sex, being Euro-American, or age. Furthermore, the mean cores of the three diagnostic groups were comparable. Based on the interpretive cut-off score guidelines given in the manual, 24% of the patients were mildly anxious, 22% were moderately anxious, and 18% were severely anxious. The results are discussed as indicating that there is a high prevalence of self-reported anxiety in outpatients who are diagnosed with psychotic disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford 08084-1391, USA. steer@umdnj.edu
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steer
authors.forename: Geetha
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Narsimha R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Pinninti
authors.forename: Aaron T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013732:Test Anxiety Scale