Editorial: Could a Treatment for Youth Anxiety Specifically Prevent the Emergence of Depression 2 Years Later?

The comorbidity of depression and anxiety is a major global health problem. A 2015 report examining response patterns of 74,000 adults across 27 World Mental Health surveys in 24 countries showed a very high comorbidity between a diagnosis of lifetime DSM-IV ¹ major depressive disorder and a diagnosis of any anxiety disorder in the past 12 months or lifetime anxiety disorder at similar rates in high-income and mid- to low-income countries. In addition, the report highlighted that almost 70% of people with lifetime depression and anxiety first developed anxiety and that the course and burden of lifetime depression comorbid with anxiety was usually more impairing than depression without anxiety. ²