The overlap between depression and anxiety on different levels of psychopathology

Symptoms, syndromes, and diagnoses (DSM-III-R) for depression and anxiety were assessed and evaluated in 150 psychiatric outpatients. It was hypothesized that the coexistence of depression and anxiety within subjects strongly depends on the psychopathological level determined. The results confirmed this assumption. Overlap proportions for symptoms were almost twice as high as for diagnoses (52% vs. 29%). Intermediary rates were obtained for syndromes. Implications of these results for research on anxious depression, often considered to be qualitatively distinct from pure depression or anxiety disorders, are discussed.