Depressive symptom differences in hospitalized, medically ill, depressed psychiatric inpatients and nonmedical controls.

Abstract

This study compared depressive and anxious symptoms in chronic medically ill individuals and depressed psychiatric inpatients using conceptually based standardized measures of cognitions and symptoms. Seventy-five hospitalized medical patients, 52 depressed psychiatric inpatients, and 25 normal controls were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987), the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire, Hamilton Rating Scales of Anxiety and Depression, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales, Beck Depression Inventory, Cognitions Checklist, and Hopelessness Scale. Analysis revealed that depression in medical patients was best distinguished by symptoms of anhedonia, low positive affect, and physiological hyperarousal, whereas syndromal depression in psychiatric inpatients was specifically characterized by negative cognition symptoms. Implications are discussed for assessing depression in medically ill populations.