Anxiety in depression.

Even though anxiety in depression is a common clinical condition, there is controversy about its status. Can these patients be dichotomized as having either anxiety or depression, or are there three categories--certain anxiety states, anxiety in depression, and the specific depressive disorders? A review of the findings from four major lines of research on anxiety in depression reveals contradictory results. Anxious depression may be a distinctive entity. The guidelines for diagnosis presented here emphasize the necessity to identify anxious depressed patients and to differentiate them from those with distinctive anxiety states or depressive disorders. Tricyclic medications, such as doxepin, combined with supportive psychotherapy are the treatment of choice for patients with anxiety in depression.