[Differential diagnosis of depressive state].
Depressive state is experienced usually in health subjects as "grief" process or "mourning work" in object loss. Also, subthreshold depression (sD) has been found to be a highly prevalent condition, with a considerable impact on the quality of life of patients, resulting in a strongly increased service utilization, and it has been found to be associated with large-scale economic costs because of disability days. A person can be considered to have sD when he or she has clinically relevant depressive symptoms, without meeting criteria for a full-blown major depressive disorder (MDD). The clinically relevant depressive symptoms in sD can either be operationalized as having a depressed mood with one or more additional symptoms of a mood disorder, or as meeting the criteria of minor depression (mD), as defined in the Appendix of the DSM-IV. Assessing the incidence of MDD in patients exhibiting sD is important for several reasons. First, it is an important indicator for the clinical relevance of sD. Secondly, it is important for understanding the process by which an individual develops MDD and the role of depressive symptoms in the process. Thirdly, the increased risk is important because it may provide a rationale for the development of new interventions that prevent the onset of new cases of MDD. Several recent studies in this area have found evidence that it is indeed possible to reduce the number of new cases of MDD by intervening in subjects with sD.
Tsuboi
Koji
K
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, School of Medicine, Toho University.
Iwasaki
Ai
A
Suga
Sakura
S
D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012015:Reference Standards; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use
D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors