Washington, Dec 1 (IANS) The fear of anxiety may put people who are already severe worriers at risk for depression, says a new study.
Understanding this specific sensitivity may make it a potential target for treating depression in the future.

“Anxiety sensitivity has been called a fear of fear,” said Andres Viana, graduate student in psychology at Penn State University (PSU).

“Those with anxiety sensitivity are afraid of their anxiety because their interpretation is that something catastrophic is going to happen when their anxious sensations arise,” he said.

Researchers recruited 96 participants — 74 females and 22 males — with an average age of 19. All of them were above-average, or moderate to high worriers, on two questionnaires for worry and generalised anxiety disorder.

Statistical analyses of questionnaire responses showed that anxiety sensitivity, after controlling for worry and generalised anxiety symptoms in above-average worriers, significantly predicted depression symptoms.

Besides, two of the four dimensions that make up anxiety sensitivity - the “fear of cognitive dyscontrol” and the “fear of publicly observable anxiety symptoms” specifically predicted depression symptoms.

The third and fourth dimensions, the fear of cardiovascular symptoms and the fear of respiratory symptoms, were not significant predictors.

“We were interested in examining the relationship between anxiety sensitivity as a whole and depression,” said Viana.

“In addition, we looked at the different dimensions of anxiety sensitivity to see which correlated with depression symptoms. One of the novel aspects of our study was to look at anxiety sensitivity in a sample of moderate to high worriers,” said Viana.

Viana, working with Brian Rabian, associate clinical professor and director of the psychological clinic, Penn State, will publish their findings in the December issue of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.