Current Depression Severity Research Articles

Retrospective Review of Treatment Outcome for 63 Patients With Trichotillomania

The authors' goal was to assess naturalistic treatment outcome in trichotillomania. Sixty-three patients who had been treated in a specialty clinic for trichotillomania over a period of 6 years were contacted. The patients were given paper-and-pencil instruments that assessed current severity of hairpulling, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and psychosocial functioning. Significant mean improvement was found on measures of hairpulling, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and psychosocial functioning. Improvement in hairpulling was associated with greater depression at the time of their index clinic evaluation as well as more improvement in depression after treatment. State-of-the-art behavioral and pharmacological treatments offer substantial clinical benefit to patients with trichotillomania, both in hairpulling symptoms and ancillary measures of functioning.

Comorbid OCD, higher score on the MFQ, and older age at presentation predicted persistence of major depression in children and adolescents

Goodyer IM, Herbert J, Secher SM, et al. Short-term outcome of major depression: I. Comorbidity and severity at presentation as predictors of persistent disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry1997...

Forskolin-stimulated platelet adenylyl cyclase activity is lower in persons with major depression

We investigated platelet adenylyl cyclase activity in 17 subjects with a history of major depression ("depressed subjects") and 20 controls. Forskolin was used to directly activate adenylyl cyclase, while guanine nucleotides (Gpp(NH)p) and fluoride ions were used to measure adenylyl cyclase activity modulated through the G proteins. Forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase was significantly lower in the depressed subjects (p < 0.0005). There was a statistically significant difference in basal adenylyl cyclase activity between male depressed subjects and male controls. The basal adenylyl cyclase activity was also lower in female depressed subjects, but this difference did not reach statistical significance (p < 0.2). The adenylyl cyclase activity measured after stimulation with a guanine nucleotide or cesium fluoride did not differ between control and depressed male or female subjects. Severity of current depression and the current use of antidepressant medication were not related to the lower forskolin-stimulated enzyme activity in the depressed subjects. The difference in forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity appears to reflect a qualitative difference in the adenylyl cyclase enzyme activity in persons with a history of major depression.

Lytic effector cell activity and major depressive disorder in patients with breast cancer: a prospective study

The study examined lymphokine-activated killer cell (LAK) and natural killer (NK) cell activity in breast cancer patients prior to surgery as compared to effector cell lysis in patients with non-malignant breast tumors, further in connection with lifetime diagnosis of major depression, severity of current depression, anxiety and coping styles. Follow up studies covered a period of 6 and 12 months. Prior to surgery, life time diagnosis of major depressive disorder, trait anxiety and coping styles did not discriminate patients as far as effector cell lysis is concerned. LAK activity but not NK activity was reduced in patients with actual depressive symptoms ( P < 0.01) and high state anxiety ( P < 0.05). These findings support the hypothesis that LAK activity is a state marker of actually existing depression and anxiety prior to surgery. Affective rather than coping measures showed significant differences in LAK activity. For LAK activity, 1 year after surgery the only predicting factors were Tamoxifen therapy and chemotherapy.

Development of a self-report measure of depression-proneness.

Two retrospective self-report measures of depression-proneness were constructed and their psychometric properties investigated. A sample of 75 female students, selected to provide a wide range of depression-proneness scores, completed the two depression-proneness self-reports along with a measure of current severity of depression. A second session (retest) was conducted 4 mo. later. Subjects were then rated for degree of depression-proneness by two or more close friends and family members. Test-retest and coefficient alpha estimates of reliability were sufficiently high to recommend both depression-proneness measures as research instruments. Both self-report measures correlated significantly; rs = .38 and .41 with friends' and families' ratings of depression-proneness, which provides evidence for the validity of the depression-proneness measures. Little or no evidence was found for the discriminant validity of these measures. The advantages of retrospective self-reports over alternative approaches for identifying depression-prone individuals are discussed.

Depression-proneness, low self-esteem, unhappy outlook, and narcissistic vulnerability.

A personality inventory of 40 self-descriptive items that had previously discriminated between remitted, formerly depressed women and women with no psychiatric history was administered to 32 male and 32 female university students, along with a recently developed measure of depression-proneness. Measures of current severity of depression (the Beck Depression Inventory) and current level of depressed affect (the DACL) were also included. Factor analyses showed that the items of the personality inventory defined three major factors, labeled low self-esteem, unhappy outlook, and narcissistic vulnerability. Partial correlations, controlling for current level of depression and depressed affect, indicated statistically significant relationships between measures of depression-proneness and measures of low self-esteem and unhappy outlook—but not narcissistic vulnerability. The utility of the depression-proneness measure in investigating vulnerability to depression was noted.