Prevalence of anxiety separation disorder in adult outpatients with non-psychotic mental disorders

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence and symptoms of separation anxiety (SA) and separation anxiety disorder (SAD) in adult outpatients with non-psychotic mental disorders. Five hundred and fifty-seven outpatients over 18 years of age with nonpsychotic mental disorders were examined. Clinical, psychopathological, psychometric (the Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (ASA-27), the Structured Clinical Interview for Anxiety Symptoms (SCI-SAS), the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (QLES-Q) methods were used. SAD and SA accompany a wide range of nonpsychotic mental disorders, predominantly anxious and affective, and are highly prevalent among outpatients (24.8% and 5.4%, respectively). Patients with SAD are characterized by a high level of SA; the symptoms specific to SAD predominate in the structure of the disorder. It has been shown that during the manifestation of the disorder in childhood, the range of attachment objects widens with age, and the quality of life in such patients is lower.