title: Social adjustment among treatment responder patients with mood disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with major depression (MD) show reduced social adjustment when compared with healthy controls. However, even among treatment responders, significant differences in social adjustment occur. The main aim of the present work is to study several socio-demographic and clinical variables possibly influencing social adjustment in MD patients who responded to treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and eleven MD patients experiencing a depressive episode who responded to their current treatment were recruited within the context of a large European multicentre project. Our primary outcome measure was the association between 19 socio-demographic and clinical variables and total social adjustment scores, as measured with the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS). Secondary outcome measures included the associations between the same variables and SAS sub-scales, and the associations between these variables and self-esteem, as measured with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A co-morbidity with anxiety disorders and the severity of residual depression symptoms were the strongest independent factors associated with poorer social adjustment, in terms of total and most sub-areas' SAS scores. Other variables associated with total and sub-areas' SAS scores were identified as well, although some variations across different areas were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cross-sectional design, the retrospective assessment of data and the lack of a placebo control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results confirm that a co-morbidity with anxiety disorders and higher residual depression symptoms could reduce social adjustment among responder MD patients. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. alessandro.serretti@unibo.it
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serretti
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiesa
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Souery
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calati
authors.forename: Othman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sentissi
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasper
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akimova
authors.forename: Agnese
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marsano
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balestri
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alberti
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zohar
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amital
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendlewicz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D012917:Social Adjustment
keywords: Major depression; Quality of life; Self-esteem; Social adjustment