MAJOR DEPRESSION IN COMBINATION WITH PANIC AND NONPANIC ANXIETY - CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND PRECIPITATING EVENTS

A consecutive sample of 298 mainly non-psychotic psychiatric outpatients was classified according to DSM-III. The pathogenetic differences between pure major depression, major depression in combination with panic disorder, non-panic anxiety disorders and pure anxiety disorders were investigated. The patients' reports of childhood relationship to parents and siblings, family atmosphere, their own personality characteristics as children and precipitating events were compared between the various groups. It appears that particularly major depression in combination with non-panic anxiety disorders reported somewhat differently from the other patients's groups. Patients in the first group generally remembered their childhood as being more traumatic with a less satisfactory relationship to their parents. Prior to the onset, they had more often experienced conflicts with their partner, spouse or fiance causing exacerbation of symptoms. These findings support previous studies suggesting that patients with mixed anxiety/depression are different from other patients, and also that various anxiety disorders may have different etiology. © 1990.