Atypical depression: enhanced right hemispheric dominance for perceiving emotional chimeric faces.
Two studies compared hemispatial bias for perceiving chimeric faces in patients having either atypical or typical depression and healthy controls. A total of 245 patients having major depressive disorder (MDD) or dysthymia (164 with atypical features) and 115 controls were tested on the Chimeric Faces Test. Atypical depression differed from typical depression and controls in showing abnormally large right hemisphere bias. This was present in patients having either MDD or dysthymia and was not related to anxiety, physical anhedonia, or vegetative symptoms. In contrast, patients having MDD with melancholia showed essentially no right hemisphere bias. This is further evidence that atypical depression is a biologically distinct subtype and underscores the importance of this diagnostic distinction for neurophysiologic studies.
Bruder
Gerard E
GE
Department of Biopsychology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York 10032, USA. bruderg@pi.cpmc.columbia.edu
Stewart
Jonathan W
JW
McGrath
Patrick J
PJ
Ma
Guoguang Julie
GJ
Wexler
Bruce E
BE
Quitkin
Frederic M
FM
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D019263:Dysthymic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012044:Regression Analysis