Prevalence and relationship to delusions and hallucinations of anxiety disorders in schizophrenia

Abstract

We investigated the prevalence of anxiety disorders in a sample of individuals with chronic schizophrenia, controlling for anxiety symptoms that may be related to delusions and hallucinations, and the possible differences in clinical variables between the groups. Individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and able to give informed consent were recruited from the community. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was administered to both confirm the DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia and screen for comorbid anxiety disorders. If a comorbid anxiety disorder was found, its relation to the individual's delusions and hallucinations was examined. Clinical rating scales for schizophrenia were administered as well as rating scales for specific anxiety disorders where appropriate. Overall, anxiety disorders ranged from 0% [ for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)] to 26.7% [ for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and agoraphobia without panic] with lower rates when controlled for anxiety symptoms related to delusions and hallucinations. In investigating clinical variables, the cohort was initially divided into schizophrenics with no anxiety disorders and those with an anxiety disorder; with further analyses including schizophrenics with anxiety disorders related to delusions and hallucinations and those with anxiety disorders not related to delusions and hallucinations. The most consistent difference between all the groups was on the PANSS-G subscale. No significant differences were found on the remaining clinical variables. Comorbid anxiety disorders in schizophrenia can be related to the individual's delusions and hallucinations, though anxiety disorders can occur exclusive of these positive symptoms. Clinicians must be aware that this comorbidity exists in order to optimize an individual's treatment.

Joint Hypermobility in Schizophrenia: A Potential Marker for Co-Morbid Anxiety

“…Unfortunately, anxiety conditions were not specifically addressed in that study [15]. Finally it has been reported that subjects with paranoid schizophrenia are more likely to suffer panic [16] and social anxiety even when controlling for hallucination and delusion related anxiety [17]. This was indirectly confirmed in our previous study [11], but interestingly JHS was also associated to higher PANSS-P scores.…”

Heterozygous neuregulin 1 mice are more sensitive to the behavioural effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol

“…This task-dependent anxiolytic phenotype suggests an impact of Nrg1 on certain explorative/locomotive aspects of anxiety (Rodgers 1997;Rodgers and Johnson 1995). Importantly, anxiety symptoms (and high autonomic arousal) are very variable accompaniments to schizophrenia-often schizophrenia patients are diagnosed with more than one anxiety disorder (Braga et al 2005;Tibbo et al 2003;Townsend and Wilson 2005). Obviously, any animal model for candidate genes of schizophrenia models only some, but not all, aspects of the mental disorder.…”

Prevalence of Comorbid Anxiety Disorders in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Literature Review

“…Most studies reported no significant influence of gender on the rate of anxiety disorders [30,34,40,44,45,[47][48][49][50][51]. Variation in prevalence rates among different psychiatric disorders was nicely shown by two similar, methodologically Table 4 27.5% had at least one additional anxiety disorder sound studies [36,38].…”