Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42383855›Full record

ArticleResearch in psychotherapy (Milano)2026

The association of interpersonal distress with negative mental health outcomes in people with a diagnosed anxiety disorder: a meta-analytic review.

Malenka Areas, Cristoph Flückiger, Juan Martín Gómez Penedo

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Research in psychotherapy (Milano), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Malenka AreasDepartment of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires and National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires.
Cristoph FlückigerDepartment of Psychology, University of Kassel.
Juan Martín Gómez PenedoDepartment of Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Empirical research has suggested the association between interpersonal dysfunctions and anxiety disorders. However, no previous meta-analysis has estimated the extent to which these relational issues are related to negative mental health in anxiety disorders. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the correlation between interpersonal distress and negative mental health outcomes in people with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. We performed a systematic search in PsycINFO and PubMed, based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria, including studies reporting estimates of the associations between interpersonal distress and negative (non-relational) mental health outcomes in people with diagnosed anxiety disorders. Using multilevel meta-analytic models, we estimated a pooled correlational (r) effect size, accounting for variability at the within-effect-size, between-effect-size, and between-study level. We identified 18 eligible articles, reporting 43 effect sizes from 2,998 subjects. The multilevel models showed a significant association between interpersonal distress and mental health in people with a diagnosed anxiety disorder (r=0.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.28, 0.52], d=0.84). We found significant heterogeneity around the estimations (Q(42)=463.29, p<.001) but failed to find significant moderators of the association. Interpersonal distress has a moderate-to-large correlation with non-relational mental health outcomes in people with diagnosed anxiety disorders. More research would be necessary to determine putative moderators of this association.

Indexed as

Anxiety disordersinterpersonal distressmeta-analysisnegative mental health outcomessystematic review

Identifiers

PMID42383855
PMCPMC13551308

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