The authors report data from a case-control family study of lifetime
psychiatric diagnoses among the relatives of individuals with major
depression. Specifically, they address the relationship between anxiety
disorders and major depression. The findings indicate that relatives of
individuals with major depression plus an anxiety disorder are at greater
risk for major depression, as well as anxiety disorders; than are the
relatives of individuals with major depression without an anxiety disorder.
This increased risk appears to be present whether or not the anxiety
disorder occurs solely in association with episodes of major depression or
is temporally separate. The nosological implications of these findings are
discussed.
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