The Scarring Effects of Past Depression on Anxiety Sensitivity: Examining Risk for Depressive Relapse and Recurrence

摘要

Previous research has demonstrated that among the lower-order dimensions of anxiety sensitivity (AS), the fear of cognitive dyscontrol is uniquely associated with depression comorbiditv in patients with primary anxiety disorders. The AS-fear of cognitive dyscontrol dimension has been conceptualized as both a pre-existing vulnerability to and a psychological scar resulting from depressive states. The focus of the present study was to determine whether AS-fear of cognitive dyscontrol con-cerns remain elevated (i.e., scarred) following remission from a major depressive episode in treatment-seeking patients with a primary DSM-IV (American Psychiat-ric Association [APA], 2000) anxiety disorder (N = 120). Patients with anxiety dis-orders presenting with current comorbid depression reported significantly higher cognitive dyscontrol scores on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index than patients with no history of depression but equivalent scores to those with past depression. These results suggest that the AS-fear of cognitive dyscontrol constitutes an enduring cognitive vulnerability for depressive relapse in those with primary anxiety disor-ders with a history of depression.