ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the most common forms of emotional distress: depression and anxiety. Kovacs and colleagues reported 47.5% psychiatric morbidity over a 10-year longitudinal survey, including depressive disorder, conduct and generalised anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are highly persistent, typically chronic and frequently coexist with one another and with other psychiatric conditions. Pre-existing generalised or specific anxiety disorders, disease-related anxiety and treatment-related anxiety have all been identified as having a negative impact on metabolic outcome and subsequent quality of life of children, young people and families. While there are some screening measures that can be used to assess possible generalised and diabetes-specific anxiety disorders in a clinic setting, further research is needed to identify optimal tools for the assessment of worry and anxiety. Regular use of brief, self-reported, diabetes-specific measures alongside clinical assessment should enable early identification and treatment of anxiety disorders in children, young people and their parents.
