• Anxiety and mood
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2011

Objective : Depressive symptoms often coexist with other anxiety disorder symptoms. Furthermore, an anxiety disorder that is comorbid with a depressive disorder results in more severe symptoms and a poorer outcome prognosis. To understand the construct of depressive symptoms in anxiety disorder, this study investigated the factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory among outpatients with anxiety disorders. Methods : All data were from psychiatric department outpatients at a university-affiliated hospital. We conducted a principal component analysis using data from 194 outpatients with DSM-IV anxiety disorders and calculated goodness-of-fit-indices. Results : Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four factor structure--Cognitive-affective symptoms (Factor 1), Somatic symptoms (Factor 2), Self-reproach (Factor 3), and Hypochondriasis/indecisiveness (Factor 4)--and a 57% total variance. This four-factor model demonstrated an acceptable level of model fit, and it fit better than did a three-factor solution from the literature on depressive disorder. Conclusion : This study's results suggest a difference in the construct of self-reported depressive symptoms in anxiety disorders. These findings also support a dimensional approach to studying anxiety and depression. Further studies may benefit from including comorbid depressive disorder and its influence on anxiety disorders.