scholarly journals Generalized anxiety disorder: an evolving concept at the border of anxiety and depression

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Gelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Generalized Anxiety

The French Version of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) in a Nonclinical Sample

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Bouvard ◽  
Anne Denis ◽  
Jean-Luc Roulin
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analysis ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
French Version ◽  
Confirmatory Factor

This article investigates the psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). A group of 704 adolescents completed the questionnaires in their classrooms. This study examines potential confirmatory factor analysis factor models of the RCADS as well as the relationships between the RCADS and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Revised (SCARED-R). A subsample of 595 adolescents also completed an anxiety questionnaire (Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised, FSSC-R) and a depression questionnaire (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CES-D). Confirmatory factor analysis of the RCADS suggests that the 6-factor model reasonably fits the data. All subscales were positively intercorrelated, with rs varying between .48 (generalized anxiety disorder-major depression disorder) and .65 (generalized anxiety disorder-social phobia/obsessive-compulsive disorder). The RCADS total score and all the RCADS scales were found to have good internal consistency (> .70). The correlations between the RCADS subscales and their SCARED-R counterparts are generally substantial. Convergent validity was found with the FSSC-R and the CES-D. The study included normal adolescents aged 10 to 19. Therefore, the findings cannot be extended to children under 10, nor to a clinical population. Altogether, the French version of the RCADS showed reasonable psychometric properties.

scholarly journals Validation of the geriatric anxiety inventory in a duloxetine clinical trial for elderly adults with generalized anxiety disorder

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1533-1539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan G. Ball ◽  
Sarah Lipsius ◽  
Rodrigo Escobar
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Divergent Validity ◽  
Internal Reliability ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Remission Status ◽  
Convergent And Divergent Validity

ABSTRACTBackground:The Generalized Anxiety Inventory (GAI) has been developed for use in the assessment of anxiety symptoms in older adults (≥ 65 years), but previous validation work has not examined the psychometric qualities of the instrument in relation to treatment. The objective of this study was to examine the performance of the GAI for its internal reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and its sensitivity to treatment.Methods:Elderly patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) participated in a 10-week double-blind study of duloxetine treatment for patients with GAD. Anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety and depression subscales, and the GAI. Internal reliability of the GAI was assessed with Cronbach's α. Correlations among the HAMA, HADS, and GAI scores were analyzed to determine convergent and divergent validity. Patients were also compared on remission status using recommended cut-off scores for the GAI.Results:Patients with GAD, who were at least 65 years of age, were randomly assigned to double-blind treatment with either duloxetine (N = 151) or placebo (N = 140) for 10 weeks acute therapy. The mean change on the GAI was significantly greater with duloxetine compared with placebo treatment (−8.36 vs. −4.96, respectively, p ≤ 0.001). The GAI demonstrated good internal consistency, good convergent and divergent validity, but suggested cut-off values for caseness with the GAI did not correspond to remission status as measured by the HAMA.Conclusions:Within an elderly patient population with GAD, the GAI demonstrated sound psychometric qualities and sensitivity to change with treatment.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Smartphone-Recorded Environmental Audio and Symptomatology of Anxiety and Depression: Exploratory Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Di Matteo ◽  
Kathryn Fotinos ◽  
Sachinthya Lokuge ◽  
Julia Yu ◽  
Tia Sternat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Functional Impairment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Severity Of Depression ◽  
Insight Into

BACKGROUND <i>Objective</i> and <i>continuous</i> severity measures of anxiety and depression are highly valuable and would have many applications in psychiatry and psychology. A collective source of data for objective measures are the sensors in a person’s smartphone, and a particularly rich source is the microphone that can be used to sample the audio environment. This may give broad insight into activity, sleep, and social interaction, which may be associated with quality of life and severity of anxiety and depression. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore the properties of passively recorded environmental audio from a subject’s smartphone to find potential correlates of symptom severity of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and general impairment. METHODS An Android app was designed, together with a centralized server system, to collect periodic measurements of the volume of sounds in the environment and to detect the presence or absence of English-speaking voices. Subjects were recruited into a 2-week observational study during which the app was run on their personal smartphone to collect audio data. Subjects also completed self-report severity measures of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and functional impairment. Participants were 112 Canadian adults from a nonclinical population. High-level features were extracted from the environmental audio of 84 participants with sufficient data, and correlations were measured between the 4 audio features and the 4 self-report measures. RESULTS The regularity in daily patterns of activity and inactivity inferred from the environmental audio volume was correlated with the severity of depression (<i>r</i>=−0.37; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). A measure of sleep disturbance inferred from the environmental audio volume was also correlated with the severity of depression (<i>r</i>=0.23; <i>P</i>=.03). A proxy measure of social interaction based on the detection of speaking voices in the environmental audio was correlated with depression (<i>r</i>=−0.37; <i>P</i>&lt;.001) and functional impairment (<i>r</i>=−0.29; <i>P</i>=.01). None of the 4 environmental audio-based features tested showed significant correlations with the measures of generalized anxiety or social anxiety. CONCLUSIONS In this study group, the environmental audio was shown to contain signals that were associated with the severity of depression and functional impairment. Associations with the severity of social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were much weaker in comparison and not statistically significant at the 5% significance level. This work also confirmed previous work showing that the presence of voices is associated with depression. Furthermore, this study suggests that sparsely sampled audio volume could provide potentially relevant insight into subjects’ mental health.

scholarly journals Changes in Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Levels of Subscribers to a Daily Supportive Text Message Program (Text4Hope) During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

10.2196/22423 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. e22423
Author(s):  
Vincent Israel Ouoku Agyapong ◽  
Marianne Hrabok ◽  
Wesley Vuong ◽  
Reham Shalaby ◽  
Jasmine Marie Noble ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Time Points

Background In addition to the obvious physical medical impact of COVID-19, the disease poses evident threats to people’s mental health, psychological safety, and well-being. Provision of support for these challenges is complicated by the high number of people requiring support and the need to maintain physical distancing. Text4Hope, a daily supportive SMS text messaging program, was launched in Canada to mitigate the negative mental health impacts of the pandemic among Canadians. Objective This paper describes the changes in the stress, anxiety, and depression levels of subscribers to the Text4Hope program after 6 weeks of exposure to daily supportive SMS text messages. Methods We used self-administered, empirically supported web-based questionnaires to assess the demographic and clinical characteristics of Text4Hope subscribers. Perceived stress, anxiety, and depression were measured with the 10-Item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD-7) scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9) scale at baseline and sixth week time points. Moderate or high perceived stress, likely generalized anxiety disorder, and likely major depressive disorder were assessed using cutoff scores of ≥14 for the PSS-10, ≥10 for the GAD-7, and ≥10 for the PHQ-9, respectively. At 6 weeks into the program, 766 participants had completed the questionnaires at both time points. Results At the 6-week time point, there were statistically significant reductions in mean scores on the PSS-10 and GAD-7 scales but not on the PHQ-9 scale. Effect sizes were small overall. There were statistically significant reductions in the prevalence rates of moderate or high stress and likely generalized anxiety disorder but not likely major depressive disorder for the group that completed both the baseline and 6-week assessments. The largest reductions in mean scores and prevalence rates were for anxiety (18.7% and 13.5%, respectively). Conclusions Text4Hope is a convenient, cost-effective, and accessible means of implementing a population-level psychological intervention. This service demonstrated significant reductions in anxiety and stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and could be used as a population-level mental health intervention during natural disasters and other emergencies. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/19292

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document