Perinatal common mental disorders: All participants completed individual psychiatrist-administered Structured Clinical Interviews for the DSM IV Axis 1 Diagnoses (SCID-I) modules for depression, generalised anxiety, and panic disorder [ 21].
However, the fact that the prevalence of generalised anxiety and depression are high in this population indicates that anxiety experienced in asthma may be part of a broader picture of generalised psychological distress rather than indicating that panic has a specific role in asthma.
However, in adults with asthma there is also high prevalence of both generalised anxiety and depression (as measured by the HADS), suggesting that the link of anxiety to asthma may be part of a broader relationship between psychological distress and chronic disease rather than a specific one.
The remaining clinical assessments, in addition to the main health anxiety one (HAI) examined the presence of generalised anxiety and depression (measured with the HADS scale [ 14]) as these are common in patients with hypochondriasis, and also adversely affects quality of life (EQ-5D [ EQ-5D [d sociandfunctioning (social16].
Increases in generalised anxiety and depression (although not to clinically significant levels) have been reported up to 5 years post-test result in a small group of female carriers (N=23) and non-carriers (N=42) although cancer-related concern did not increase over this period (van Oostrom et al, 2003).
First, although very high scores on the SCL-90-R (very severe symptoms) may be indicative of a mental disorder, we did not conduct clinical interviews to examine the prevalence of mental disorders such as generalised anxiety, major depression and PTSD across samples.
The most common disorders were depression (10%), generalised anxiety disorders (8%) and harmful use of alcohol (3%) [ 1].
Post trauma factors associated with PTSD in children include: social support [ 25] and co-morbidity, especially depression and generalised anxiety [ 38- 40].
Patients completed the self-administered and validated German version of the HADS[ 19] The HADS measures depression and generalised anxiety in in- and outpatients and in community settings.
