Anxiety disorders during acute bereavement: risk and risk factors

Abstract

Forty-four percent of bereaved spouses reported at least one type of anxiety disorder during the first year of bereavement in a survey of a representative sample composed of a subgroup (N = 48) assessed 6 months after bereavement and another subgroup (N = 54) assessed 12 months after bereavement. The bereaved spouses experienced 6-month prevalence rates for panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorders that were higher than community prevalence rates for the same metropolitan area (p less than .01). Past personal history of anxiety disorder was an independent risk factor (p less than .05), and anxiety disorders were associated with severe grief (p less than .01) and depression (p less than .05). The large overlap of anxiety disorders with major depression observed in this study indicates that the estimated rates of anxiety disorder are not independent of major depression in most cases and raises questions about whether the anxiety disorders of bereavement are prodromal, concomitant, or residual with respect to major depression.