Anxiety and depression: One, two or three disorders?

The study deals with theoretical psychiatric proposals about relations between anxiety and depressive disorders. Three theoretical positions developed on the basis of numerous evidence on relationship of anxiety and depressive disorders: unitaristic (anxious and depressive disorders represent one disorder with different clinical pictures or phases of the disorder), pluralistic (there are two classes of disorders with clearly recognizable boundaries) and anxious-depressive position (mixed anxious-depressive disorder represents also a single disorder). Possible reasons for antagonisms, connections (i.e. lack of connections) to some proposals of psychologists are commented upon, as well as the significance of this problem for classification of mental disorders in general

State depression: Mood or syndrome?

A State Depression Scale was developed in order to register variations of depressive mood. The Scale has satisfactory reliability, as shown by its internal homogeneity and temporal stability. Concurrent validity of the Scale indicated that the Scale correlates with a POMS-D scale (r = 0.41; p < 0.00), and with the Depressive Personality Scale (r = 0.36; p < 0.00). Divergent validity of the Scale was tested by Scale's correlation with the two measures of state anxiety (STAI-S and POMS-A) and was shown to be unsatisfactory since it was as high as the Scale's correlation with scales of depressive affect. Principal Component Analysis extracted four factors: two broader factors, which included depressive-affective contents combined with anxious and depressive-cognitive symptoms, respectively; and another two factors which related to motivational and behavioral characteristics. Sensitivity of the Scale was tested in an experimental setting involving induction of depressive and euphoric mood. The Scale showed high ability to register changes following induction of depressive mood.