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Depressive symptoms and signs that differentiate major and atypical depression from dysthymic disorder in elderly finns
Author(s) -
Kivelä SirkkaLiisa,
Pahkala Kimmo,
Eronen Ari
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.930040206
Subject(s) - dysthymic disorder , atypical depression , depression (economics) , depersonalization , psychology , anxiety , psychiatry , sadness , irritability , clinical psychology , major depressive disorder , medicine , anger , mood , burnout , emotional exhaustion , economics , macroeconomics
Symptoms and signs that in terms of severity differentiate major and atypical depression from dysthymic disorder were investigated in depressed Finns aged 60 years or over. The overall symptomatology of major depression was not significantly more severe than that of dysthymic disorder, although some symptoms, viz. sadness, paranoid symptoms, loss of interest in work and activities, loss of weight and depersonalization, were more severe in major depressive patients than in dysthymic patients. The overall symptomatology of atypical depression was less severe than that of dysthymic disorder. Sadness, psychic anxiety, loss of interest in work and activities, somatic anxiety, general somatic symptoms, strength of diurnal variation of symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms and suicidal ideas were less severe in atypical depressive patients than in dysthymic patients but loss of insight was more severe in atypical depressive patients. Of objective signs, loss of weight was more common in major depressive patients than in dysthymic patients. Sad expression and crying were less common in atypical depressive patients than in dysthymic patients.