Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T01:01:48.932Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Classifying Depression by Mental State Signs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Gordon Parker*
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital
Philip Boyce
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales
Kay Wilhelm
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital
Henry Brodaty
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital
Philip Mitchell
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales
Ian Hickie
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital
Kerrie Eyers
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital
*
Mood Disorders Unit, Prince Henry Hospital, Little Bay 2036, Sydney, Australia

Abstract

The possibility that separation of a categorical depressive disease (‘melancholia’) from remaining depressive disorders can be improved by assessment of mental state signs was examined in patients treated by representative Sydney psychiatrists and patients referred to a specialised mood disorders unit. A set of signs, principally assessing retardation, was derived within the two samples by principal-components and latent-class analyses. Scores were significantly correlated with clinical, DSM–III, and RDC diagnoses, and appeared independent of severity, suggesting that melancholia can be defined phenomenologically. Scores were also associated with several ‘validating’ factors. Comparative analyses of a refined list of melancholia symptoms suggested that ratings of defined signs are likely to have greater capacity than symptom ratings to differentiate melancholia from residual depressive disorders.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References will be found at the end of the second paper, pp. 6971.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.