The temporal course of anxiety sensitivity in outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders: Relationships with behavioral inhibition and depression

The present study evaluated the temporal course of three dimensions of anxiety sensitivity (AS; concerns over physical symptoms, mental incapacitation, and social embarrassment) and their relationships with behavioral inhibition (BI) and depression (DEP) in 606 outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders. A semi-structured interview and self-report questionnaires were administered on three occasions over a two-year period. All three constructs decreased over the study period and AS temporally functioned more similar to DEP than BI. Cross-sectional and temporal correlations supported the discriminant validity of AS from BI. As expected, initial levels of BI predicted less improvement in all AS dimensions. In contrast, higher initial levels of mental incapacitation AS were associated with greater improvement in DEP. Our results are discussed in regard to the measurement of AS in clinical samples, conceptualizations of AS as a lower-order vulnerability, and prognostic implications of directional paths between BI and AS and AS and DEP.

Research highlights
► Outpatients demonstrated decreases in anxiety sensitivity, behavioral inhibition, and depression over a two-year period.
► Anxiety sensitivity temporally functioned more like depression than behavioral inhibition.
► The discriminant validity of anxiety sensitivity from behavioral inhibition was supported.
► Higher initial levels of behavioral inhibition predicted less improvement in the three dimensions of anxiety sensitivity.
► Higher initial levels of mental incapacitation anxiety sensitivity predicted greater improvement in depression.