Atypical depression: frequency of symptoms

Abstract

Introduction. The relevance of the study is determined by the increase of atypical forms of depression, which is especially characteristic of outpatient affective disorders. In this case, the frequency of occurrence of individual atypical depressive symptoms requires clarification.Aim. To determinate the prevalence of atypical symptoms in patients with depressive disorder.Materials and methods. Patients (87 subjects) with depressive disorder, aged 18–70, who gave inform consent. The selection criterion was the result of psychometric research using The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): the study included patients who scored more than 7 points. Patients with severe organic insufficiency and neurological diseases, alcohol and substance abuse were excluded. The study used clinical psychometric and statistical methods. The main examination tool is stimulus material in the form of a table with a list of atypical depressive symptoms.Results. Based on the psychometric assessment, patients were divided into two groups: patients with subclinical depression included 19 patients, patients with clinically severe depression included 68 patients. Among patients with subclinical depression, increased anxiety (89.5%), mood reactivity (84.2%), hypersonium (78.9%), hyperphagia (73.7%) and somatized symptoms (73.7%) were most often recorded. Among patients with clinically pronounced depression, increased anxiety (91.2%), somatized symptoms (80.9%), hypersonium (79.4%) and inverted daily rhythm (72.1%) were most common.Conclusion. The data obtained confirm the high prevalence of symptoms of atypical depression among patients with depressive spectrum disorders. The frequent occurrence of anxious and somatized symptoms in the structure of depression, as well as hypersomnia, was demonstrated. It seems relevant to further study the prevalence of separate symptoms of atypical depression.