Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with generalized anxiety disorder

Objective: The goal of this study was to test the validity of generalized anxiety disorder as an independent diagnostic entity and to evaluate the prevalence and type of other psychiatric disorders coexisting with generalized anxiety disorder. Although a few published studies have addressed the subject, this sandy presents data from a larger group of subjects and excludes concurrent major depression as a potential confound. method: The authors studied patients with a primary diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder assigned after evaluation with the structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Patients with a concurrent major depressive episode were excluded. All diagnoses for which the patient met criteria were determined, including lifetime occurrence of major depressive episode and substance use