Describe two common comorbidities of treatment refractory anxiety.

Describe two common comorbidities of treatment refractory anxiety.

One common comorbidity of treatment refractory anxiety is substance use disorder. Similar symptoms to anxiety disorder may appear when a person is experiencing a substance use disorder. Because anxiety disorders modify the presenting symptoms and treatment of substance use disorders and vice versa, individuals may be at increased risk for relapse and poor outcomes related to poor adherence to treatment or self-medicating through illegal substances(Campelo et al, 2021). Similarly, Anxiety and depression often occur together because they overlap so many symptoms.Those who suffer from anxiety are more vulnerable to the depressing effects of ruminating on unpleasant ideas. Symptoms of anxiety appear to be worse in patients with major depressive disorder as a diagnosis and research believes this may be related to pseudo-resistance, also known as poor medication adherence. One study shows that patients who are considered medication-resistance have higher levels of baseline anxiety ratings and high occurrence of comorbidities with MDD(Roy-Byrne, 2022).