TY - JOUR
T1 - A comparison of the symptoms of medical and psychiatric patients matched on the Beck Depression Inventory
AU - Emmons, Carol Ann
AU - Fetting, John H.
AU - Zonderman, Alan B.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (5 T32 MH15803104 and 2 MH16806-OlAl) and The johns Hopkins University. The authors wish to express our appreciation to Mark Teitelbaum, M.D., for his cooperation and help with thestudy. We would also like to thank Bert F. Green, Ph.D., Camille B. Wort-man, Ph.D., and lames C. Coyne, Ph. D, for their comments on earlier drafts.
PY - 1987/11
Y1 - 1987/11
N2 - The goals of this study were to examine, in greater detail, the experience of depression in the medically ill, and to compare their experience with that of depressed psychiatric patients. Medical and psychiatric inpatients were matched in terms of total scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In addition to the BDI, all patients completed a self-report symptom battery. No difference was found between the two groups in terms of total BDI scores, but psychiatric patients scored significantly higher on the affective BDI items, and medical patients scored significantly higher on the somatic BDI items. Discriminant analysis was used to compare their responses to the symptom battery. Depression in the psychiatric patients was characterized primarily by suicidal ideation and loss of interest, whereas in medical patients a lack of energy and worry were the predominant symptoms. The implications of these findings for assessing depression in the medically ill are discussed.
AB - The goals of this study were to examine, in greater detail, the experience of depression in the medically ill, and to compare their experience with that of depressed psychiatric patients. Medical and psychiatric inpatients were matched in terms of total scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In addition to the BDI, all patients completed a self-report symptom battery. No difference was found between the two groups in terms of total BDI scores, but psychiatric patients scored significantly higher on the affective BDI items, and medical patients scored significantly higher on the somatic BDI items. Discriminant analysis was used to compare their responses to the symptom battery. Depression in the psychiatric patients was characterized primarily by suicidal ideation and loss of interest, whereas in medical patients a lack of energy and worry were the predominant symptoms. The implications of these findings for assessing depression in the medically ill are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1016/0163-8343(87)90048-X
DO - 10.1016/0163-8343(87)90048-X
M3 - Article
C2 - 3692146
AN - SCOPUS:0023635047
SN - 0163-8343
VL - 9
SP - 398
EP - 404
JO - General Hospital Psychiatry
JF - General Hospital Psychiatry
IS - 6
ER -