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

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that among the lower-order dimensions of anxiety sensitivity (AS), the fear of cognitive dyscontrol is uniquely associated with depression comorbidity 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 concerns remain elevated (i.e., scarred) following remission from a major depressive episode in treatment-seeking patients with a primary DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000) anxiety disorder (N = 120). Patients with anxiety disorders 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 cogniti...