Temporal patterns of anxious and depressed mood in generalized anxiety disorder: A daily diary study

Research suggests that anxiety disorders tend to temporally precede depressive disorders, a finding potentially relevant to understanding comorbidity. The current study used diary methods to determine whether daily anxious mood also temporally precedes daily depressed mood. 55 participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and history of depressive symptoms completed a 21-day daily diary tracking anxious and depressed mood. Daily anxious and depressed moods were concurrently associated. Daily anxious mood predicted later depressed mood at a variety of time lags, with significance peaking at a two-day lag. Depressed mood generally did not predict later anxious mood. Results suggest that the temporal antecedence of anxiety over depression extends to daily symptoms in GAD. Implications for the refinement of comorbidity models, including causal theories, are discussed.

► Studies suggest that anxiety disorders tend to temporally precede depression. ► Temporal associations between symptoms within disorders remain unclear. ► We explore sequencing of daily symptoms within generalized anxiety disorder. ► Anxious mood strongly predicted later depressed mood, but not vice versa. ► Anxious mood was most strongly predictive of depressed mood at a two-day lag.