The high frequency of anxiety disorders in patients with depression makes their recognition and treatment clinically important. Evidence suggests that anxiety disorders are underdiagnosed in patients with depression, despite being associated with increased psychosocial morbidity and possibly with differential treatment response. It is important for clinicians to be aware of which treatment approaches have been found to be as effective for depressed patients with and without comorbid anxiety, and which treatments have been found to be more effective than others. It is also important for clinicians to become familiar with the DSM-5 anxious distress specifier, as this may be a simpler approach toward assessing anxiety in patients with depression than the assessment of comorbid anxiety disorders.
