Differential diagnostics of disorders with mild anxiety and depressive symptoms
<i>Anxiety and depressive symptoms are highly comorbid. Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder (MADD) is the model of comorbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Only isolated scientific articles are dedicated to MADD. Opportune defining of psychopathological nature of disease is important to match the efficient treatment. The aim of this study is to define clinical and psychometric characteristics, which specify diagnosis of MADD. Material and methods. 117 of female patients with MADD were studied. Allocated groups were comparable according to the spread of their age. Clinical, psychometric and statistical methods were used. Results. Among the isolated symptoms of depression anhedonia (63,2%) is the most widespread., among isolated symptoms of anxiety </i>- <i>muscle tension (58,1%) and arousal (40,2%). Patients were divided into 3 groups: group 1 </i>- <i>patients which demonstrated tension and/or arousal; group 2 </i>- <i>patients which demonstrated tension and/or arousal and anhedonia; group 3 </i>- <i>patients which demonstrated anhedonia. Patients with anhedonia (groups 2, 3) demonstrated high rates of symptomatic markers of depression; patients with tension and/or arousal demonstrated high rates of symptomatic markers of anxiety. According to the results of testing patients with MASQ group 1 demonstrated high rates of scales which include symptomatic markers of anxiety disorders. Croup 3 demonstrated high rates of scales which include symptomatic markers of depression. Croup 2 demonstrated high rates of scales which include symptomatic markers of anxiety disorders and scales which include symptomatic markers of depression. Conclusion. Clinical criteria of Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder according to ICD-10 are not sufficient to diagnose and in some cased using of additional diagnostic criteria is required. Usage of symptomatic markers of anxiety disorders (tension and arousal) and depression (anhedonia) is an efficient way of dividing of clinical variants of disorders with mild anxiety and depressive symptoms, which differ in their clinical and psychometric features. These variants include anxiety disorder with depressive includings, true anxiety-depressive disorder, atypical anxious depression. Key words: MADD, anhedonia, tension, arousal, MASQ</i>