Proportion of individuals with pairs of diagnoses out of those who had at least one anxiety disorder diagnosis

Many disorders commonly occur with anxiety disorders, including depression, other anxiety disorders, and other psychiatric disorders. This heatmap shows, in one analysis of the NCS-R survey, the proportion of individuals with pairs of diagnoses, with darker colours indicating greater comorbidity.

This study reanalyzed data from the National Comorbidity Survey – Replication cohort to estimate the prevalence of multiple anxiety disorder comorbidities.¹ Strikingly, 60% of people with an anxiety disorder also had another comorbid anxiety or depressive disorder.¹ Studies of mental disorders often contain exclusion criteria about multimorbidity, potentially masking the true prevalence of anxiety disorders; future studies could adopt a trans-diagnostic approach that more closely resembles the real world.¹

GAD=generalized anxiety disorder; PTSD=post-traumatic stress disorder; MDE=major depressive episode/disorder; NCS-R=National Comorbidity Survey – Replication