Psychopathological and follow-up characteristics of cyclical depressions and their links with physical diseases in patients’ history
The material for this investigation were depressed patients who met the ICD-10 criteria for affective disorder - altogether 100 patients (78 female and 22 male). The key inclusion criteria was presence of physical disorders involving various organs or systems of the body, though in remission at the moment of investigation. The investigation shows more severe course of physical disorders and the biggest number of somatic problems in history in patients with cyclical depression with dominating sad affect and obvious correlation links with the symptoms that resemble the profile of a typical depressive syndrome with high prevalence of asthenic-vegetative symptoms. The authors also demonstrate the advantages of a differential approach towards analysis of clinical, affective and follow-up characteristics of depressive patients. This approach leads to a higher and more precise predictive value, as well as better evaluation of structural characteristics of depressive condition and the severity of physical disorders in patients’ histories.