Quality of life and anxiety disorders: a population study

Abstract

The study of quality of life has increased in importance in the area of mental disorders during the last decade. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of specific anxiety disorders on specific quality of life indicators in the common population. More than 2000 individuals between 18 and 65 years old were studied by means of structured interviews. The results showed that social phobia and panic disorder within the past year and lifetime, and generalized anxiety disorder within the past year, had an independent effect on quality of life when controlling for a number of sociodemographic variables, somatic health, and other DSM-III-R Axis I mental disorders. Specific phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder had only a small effect, and agoraphobia showed no effect. The effect was strongest for self-realization and contact with friends, but anxiety disorders also influenced subjective well-being, social support, negative life events, contact with family of origin, and neighborhood quality.