title: Childhood parental separation experiences and depressive symptomatology in acute major depression.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the pathoplastic effects of childhood parental separation experiences on depressive symptoms. Patients with acute major depression were identified in a large 31-center study of affective disorders in Japan. Information regarding the patients' childhood losses was collected using a semistructured interview, and their depressive symptomatology was assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Patients reported significantly higher CES-D total scores when they had experienced early object loss of the same-sex parent. In terms of the CES-D subscores derived by factor analysis, early object loss significantly aggravated symptoms that people normally could cope with but could no longer cope with when depressed (e.g. 'poor appetite', 'cannot shake off the blues' and 'everything an effort.'). Once depression develops, early object loss may act as a pathoplastic factor by making it severer especially by rendering people less able to perform what they normally could do.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hiroe
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morinobu
authors.forename: Toshinori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Kiyohisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Toshiaki A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010333:Paternal Deprivation; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors