Two-Year Course of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Panic Disorder in a Longitudinal Sample of African American Adults

Objective: Anxiety disorders are the most common group of psychiatric disorders in adults. In addition to high prevalence, anxiety disorders are associated with significant functional impairment, and published research has consistently found them to have a chronic course. To date, very little research has explored the clinical characteristics and prospective course of anxiety disorders in racial and ethnic minority samples. The aims of this article are to present clinical and demographic characteristics at intake and prospective 2-year course findings in a sample of African American adults. Method: Data are presented from 152 African Americans diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD, n = 94), social anxiety disorder (SAD, n = 85), and panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA, n = 77) who are participating in the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Project-Phase II (HARP-II). HARP-II is an observational, prospective, longitudinal study of the course of anxiety disorders. Participants were interviewed at intake and annually for 2 years of follow-up. Probabilities of recovery over 2 years of follow-up were calculated using standard survival analysis methods. Results and Conclusions: Survival analyses revealed a chronic course for all anxiety disorders, with rates of recovery of 0.23, 0.07, and 0.00 over 2 years for GAD, SAD, and PDA, respectively. These rates of recovery were lower than those reported in predominantly non-Latino White longitudinal samples, especially for SAD and PDA, suggesting that anxiety disorders may have a more chronic course for African Americans, with increased psychosocial impairment and high rates of comorbid Axis-I disorders. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.