The ability of the Symptom Checklist SCL-90 to differentiate various anxiety and depressive disorders.

We studied the use of the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) to differentiate between specific anxiety and depressive disorders and/or their symptoms in 280 patients with 6 DSM-III-R diagnoses: major depression (MD), panic disorder (PD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social phobia (SP), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and mixed anxiety and depression (MAD). Using a comparison group, we found specific patterns for some of the diagnostic categories. Both the MD and MAD subjects had significantly high paranoid ideation, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and psychoticism, as well as high depression subscale scores; those with PD and GAD has the highest anxiety and somatization scores; and those with SP or OCD had a mixed pattern. When ranking the severity of psychopathology, the disorders ordered from most to least were MAD, MD, PD, GAD, SP, and OCD. Subsyndromal levels of symptoms frequently were associated with the various conditions. Use of the SCL-90 subscale helps to enlarge our understanding of the various anxiety and depressive disorders.