Major depression, anxiety disorders and mixed conditions. Childhood and precipitating events.

A consecutive sample of non-psychotic outpatients was divided into 4 groups: pure major depression, mixed major depression-anxiety disorder, pure anxiety disorder and a remaining group of other disorders. The patient reports of childhood losses, relation to parents, siblings and family climate, their own personality characteristics as children and precipitating events were compared in the various groups. On childhood experiences and precipitating events, it appears that the mixed group reported somewhat differently from the pure anxiety and the pure depression group, and very often differently from the group of other disorder. Patients with mixed major depression-anxiety disorder generally remembered their childhood as being more traumatic with a less satisfactory relationship to their parents. Prior to the onset of the disorder, they had more often experienced conflicts with partner, spouse or fiancé.