The social rhythm metric (SRM) is a self report diary instrument which generates a numerical measure of rhythmicity of daily life behaviors. Depression researchers have proposed that life events cause disruption of social rhythmicity and this leads to disturbance in the sense of well-being and to disruption of physiologic rhythmicity known to be related to depressive episodes. We hypothesized that low rhythmicity of daily activities might also be characteristic of anxiety disorder patients.
Subjects: Forty-eight patients who met DSM III-R criteria for an anxiety disorder were recruited and compared with 41 previously monitored normal controls.
Procedures: All patients and controls completed at least two weeks of daily monitoring with the SRM. Anxiety patients underwent structured diagnostic assessment and completed demographic and clinical rating scales. SRM was analyzed according to a previously developed algorithm.
Results: Anxiety disorder patients report significantly lower regularity of daily activities than normal controls. The low SRM scores were not accounted for by the presence of comorbid affective disorder.
Conclusions: We identify a new type of abnormality in anxiety disorder patients which has potential clinical as well as theoretical interest.