PHOBIAS AND DEPRESSION - CLINICAL AND PSYCHOMETRIC ASPECTS

This paper reports an investigation of the relationship between depression and phobia. Sixty-eight patients admitted to a general hospital psychiatric unit were given a battery of psychometric tests and were also diagnosed clinically. In addition, a comparison group was used. An association was found between depression and phobia as evaluated by psychometric measures. The association was present with diffuse phobias (social and agoraphobia) but not with simple phobias. Grouping patients according to psychometric measures rather than clinical diagnoses was found to be a more accurate method of defining depression and phobia for study. The findings suggest that phobias should be searched for in a mixed anxiety-depression presentation, and that treatment should be aimed at all components of the syndrome. Some suggestions for further work are made. © 1979.