Abstract
BackgroundThe psychological aspects of treatment-resistant and remitted depression are not well documented.MethodsWe administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to patients with treatment-resistant depression (n = 34), remitted depression (n = 25), acute depression (n = 21), and healthy controls (n = 64). Pessimism and optimism were also evaluated by MMPI.ResultsANOVA and post-hoc tests demonstrated that patients with treatment-resistant and acute depression showed similarly high scores for frequent scale (F), hypochondriasis, depression, conversion hysteria, psychopathic device, paranoia, psychasthenia and schizophrenia on the MMPI compared with normal controls. Patients with treatment-resistant depression, but not acute depression registered high on the scale for cannot say answer. Using Student's t-test, patients with remitted depression registered higher on depression and social introversion scales, compared with normal controls. For pessimism and optimism, patients with treatment-resistant depression demonstrated similar changes to acutely depressed patients. Remitted depression patients showed lower optimism than normal controls by Student's t-test, even though these patients were deemed recovered from depression using HAM-D.ConclusionsThe patients with remitted depression and treatment-resistant depression showed subtle alterations on the MMPI, which may explain the hidden psychological features in these cohorts.
Highlights
80 to 90 percent of depressed patients respond to antidepressant treatment, while the remaining 5 to 15 percent are deemed non-responders
A previous study showed that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profile for patients with unipolar depression was characterized by an elevation on the depression scale and a secondary elevation on the schizophrenia scale, while the MMPI profile for the bipolar depression group showed comparable elevations on both depression and schizophrenia scales [8]
MMPI for validity multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) for validity scales indicated a significant effect for group (F = 8.320, P,0.0001)
Summary
80 to 90 percent of depressed patients respond to antidepressant treatment, while the remaining 5 to 15 percent are deemed non-responders. Treatment-resistant depression is defined as a non-response to at least two types of antidepressant medication [1,2]. Another study showed small but significant differences between dysthymia and major depression, but the presence of a personality disorder increased the neurotic triad, namely the hypochondriasis, depression and hysteria scales [9]. When scoring depressed patients on the MMPI, the high scoring scales excluding depression, were hysteria, psychopathic deviation, schizophrenia and psychasthenia [11]. On the MMPI, combinations of scores excluding depression may be useful for detecting the psychological mechanisms involved in remitted and treatment-resistant depression. The psychological aspects of treatment-resistant and remitted depression are not well documented
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
