title: [Culture specific or universal depressive diseases? Comparison of depressive symptoms of WHO/SADD (Standardized Assessment of Depressive Disorders) in Mannheim, West Germany and Addis Abeba, Ethiopia].
abstract: In an international comparative study the symptomatology of depressive patients from psychiatric services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (N = 52) and in Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany (N = 136) was investigated with the WHO Schedule for Standardized Assessment of Depressive Disorders (WHO/SADD). Controlled for differences in the sex-, age- and diagnostic-distribution of the two samples, depressive patients in Addis Ababa showed significantly more somatic symptoms, hypochondrias, psychomotor restlessness and delusions of reference and persecution, but markedly less feelings of guilt. Nevertheless, the same core of symptomatology was found to build in both samples the first and most important factor of 17, mainly psychological complaints. Only "feelings of guilt" did not belong to this core in Addis Ababa. In contrast to what is often believed to be the case in African patients, the more frequently expressed somatic complaints came in addition to, but did not replace the core-psychological symptomatology. The investigators stress the importance of a separate analysis of the frequencies of symptoms and of dimensions these symptoms build.
mesh_terms: D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005002:Ethiopia; D005860:Germany, West; D006801:Humans; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D014944:World Health Organization
vernacular_title: Kulturspezifische oder universelle depressive Erkrankungen? Vergleich der depressiven Symptomatik des WHO/SADD in Mannheim/BRD und Addis Abeba/Athiopien.