PMID- 8879904
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19970127
LR  - 20190905
IS  - 0010-440X (Print)
IS  - 0010-440X (Linking)
VI  - 37
IP  - 5
DP  - 1996 Sep-Oct
TI  - Number of symptoms, quantification, and qualification of depression.
PG  - 307-15
AB  - Current classification systems (ICD-10 and DSM-IV) require a quantitative 
      criterion for differentiating depressive states, suggesting a correlation between 
      the number of symptoms, i.e., the pervasiveness of the syndrome, and the subtype 
      of the illness. All the symptoms (within those contained in the diagnostic lists) 
      are assumed to have comparable value. To investigate the relevance of the number 
      and the type of symptoms reported by 196 patients suffering from depression, we 
      compared the symptoms using independent indicators of severity such as the 
      Clinical Global Index (CGI) and the social functioning subscale of the Global 
      Assessment of Functioning (GAF). A second comparison using the same indicators 
      was made between qualitatively distinct categories of DSM-IV and ICD-10 (i.e., 
      melancholic v nonmelancholic, somatic v nonsomatic, and psychotic v 
      nonpsychotic). There was evidence that increasing numbers of symptoms actually 
      reflect higher levels of severity, but the categorizations that were mainly based 
      on qualitative criteria (e.g., melancholia, somatic syndrome, etc.) usually 
      attained better discrimination compared with those based on the number of 
      symptoms. Moreover, certain symptoms (usually those indicated as endogenous) were 
      more likely to be associated with greater severity and pervasiveness. Finally, 
      the results clearly showed that different symptoms had different weight in 
      establishing the gradient of severity.
FAU - Faravelli, C
AU  - Faravelli C
AD  - Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Florence University Medical School, 
      Italy.
FAU - Servi, P
AU  - Servi P
FAU - Arends, J A
AU  - Arends JA
FAU - Strik, W K
AU  - Strik WK
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Compr Psychiatry
JT  - Comprehensive psychiatry
JID - 0372612
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Depressive Disorder/*diagnosis/psychology
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Mental Disorders/classification/diagnosis
MH  - Middle Aged
EDAT- 1996/09/01 00:00
MHDA- 1996/09/01 00:01
CRDT- 1996/09/01 00:00
PHST- 1996/09/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1996/09/01 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1996/09/01 00:00 [entrez]
AID - S0010-440X(96)90011-5 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/s0010-440x(96)90011-5 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Compr Psychiatry. 1996 Sep-Oct;37(5):307-15. doi: 10.1016/s0010-440x(96)90011-5.