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The article takes a look at the proposition for DSM-5 mental disorder on the predictive value of panic attacks for overall psychopathology onset, course, and functioning. It examines the impact of panic status on the prevalence of anxiety, affective, alcohol and any mental disorders. It reveals the results which found out the association of current panic attacks outside the realm of panic disorder with increased prevalence and persistence of mental disorders and impaired functioning.

The article discusses a study that examined the association between metabolic syndrome or its components with onset and chronicity of depression. Findings show that waist circumference, not metabolic syndrome, predicts onset of depression in late life. It also reveals that depressed persons with metabolic syndrome are more likely to have persistent or recurrent depression. It is suggested that depression with metabolic abnormalities can identify a chronic subtype of depression.

The article presents a study that utilized data from a large psychiatric cohort in order to analyze comorbidity patterns and temporal sequencing of separate depressive and anxiety problem. The study showed that of patients with a depressive disorder, 67% had a current and 75% had a comorbid anxiety disorder in their lifetime. The study affirmed that comorbidity is the rule rather than the exclusion.

The article presents a study which aimed to distinguish the psychological features between chronically depressed and nonchronically depressed persons. Study participants included 18 to 65 years old who were suffering from DSM-IV major depressive disorder (N=1,002). The study found that the chronically depressed persons have higher levels of neuroticism compared to the nonchronically depressed persons.

The article discusses a naturalistic cohort study to assess whether white matter hyperintensities, medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) or global cortical atrophy affects short-term response to electoconvulsive therapy (ECT) in severely depressed elderly patients. Patients were given twice-weekly ECT and energy dosage was determined by age. It indicates that MTA in severely depressed elderly patients is associated with poor response to ECT and suggests follow up on patients with MTA and depressive symptoms to see whether they will develop dementia.

This article discusses a study conducted to identify depressive subtypes within a large cohort of subjects with depression. The study used data from 818 persons with a major depressive disorder or minor depression who participated in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. The method and results of the study are explored.

The article discusses a study on whether abdominal obesity plays a role in predicting the development of depressive symptoms in a community-based group of older, non-depressed people aged 70-79 years. It is said that obesity contributed to the rise in the risk of the development of depressive symptoms in men only. The relationship between obesity and depressive symptoms in men was attributed to high level of visceral fat.

The article provides information on a study which examined the influence of childhood trauma and life events on the chronicity of depression in adults. Data utilized in the study were collected from 1,230 patients who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) between 2004 and 2007. The study found that the chronicity of depression is associated with childhood trauma but not with childhood life events. Study authors noted the need to determine childhood trauma when treating depressed patients.

Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective treatment, especially in psychotic late-life depression (LLD). However, it is not yet clear whether the greater efficacy seen in psychotic LLD is because of a shorter index episode duration. The first aim of this study was to substantiate the superior ECT remission rates in patients with psychotic LLD, as compared to patients with nonpsychotic LLD, and a second aim was to investigate whether this association is independent of the index duration., Methods: 186 patients with LLD treated with ECT were included in the study: 76 from the Valerius cohort (data collection from 2001 to 2006) and 110 from the Mood Disorders Treated with Electroconvulsive Therapy (MODECT) cohort (data collection from 2011 to 2013). The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) was used to evaluate depression severity, with remission defined as 2 consecutive MADRS scores < 10. Diagnosis of depression was based on DSM-IV (Valerius) and DSM-IV-TR (MODECT) criteria. A stepwise logistic regression model was built to assess the association between psychotic symptoms, index duration, and remission., Results: Patients with psychotic LLD showed significantly higher remission rates compared to patients with nonpsychotic LLD (68.9% vs 51.0%), independent of index duration, additionally corrected for age, sex, and baseline depression severity (OR = 2.10 [95% CI, 1.07-4.10], P  = .03)., Conclusions: Patients with psychotic LLD treated with ECT show higher remission rates compared to patients with nonpsychotic LLD. The high remission rates in patients with psychotic LLD are not explained by a shorter index duration. Future studies focusing on neurobiological differences in psychotic versus nonpsychotic depression may indicate why this subtype of depression is very responsive to ECT., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02667353., (© Copyright 2022 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.)

Objective: Many patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BD) experience impairments in daily life. We investigated whether patients with single-episode MDD (MDD-s), recurrent MDD (MDD-r), and BD differ in functional impairments, whether time since last episode (syndromal state, in 4 categories) contributes to impairment, whether this association is moderated by diagnosis, and the role of depressive symptoms., Method: Data were derived from 1,664 participants in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (MDD-s, n = 483; MDD-r, n = 1,063; BD, n = 118), from 2006 into 2009. In additional analyses, 530 healthy controls were included. DSM-IV-TR diagnosis and information about syndromal state were based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Psychosocial impairment was assessed with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). Adjusted associations between diagnosis, syndromal state, impairment, and depression severity were investigated., Results: Syndromal state not being taken into account, patients with BD experienced more functional impairment than patients with MDD-s or with MDD-r, and in all diagnostic groups, impairments decreased with increasing time since last episode. However, impact of syndromal state on functioning showed a different course between diagnostic groups (mean [SD] WHODAS score: current: MDD-s 30.8 [2.8], MDD-r 32.7 [0.9], BD 37.7 [2.1], P = .07; recently remitted: MDD-s 21.7 [3.5], MDD-r 24.0 [1.2], BD 22.1[3.2], P = .7; remitted: MDD-s 10.6 [3.7], MDD-r 21.6 [1.4], BD 19.2 [4.4], P = .02; remitted > 1 year: MDD-s 13.3 [0.6], MDD-r 14.7 [0.5], BD 17.1 [2.2], P = .8). Depression severity accounted for these differences. Moreover, functioning in all remitted patients remained impaired when compared to that in healthy controls., Conclusion: Functional recovery may take up to 1 year after syndromal remission in recurrent depressive and bipolar disorder, mainly due to residual depressive symptoms, emphasizing the need for prolonged continuation treatment., (© Copyright 2015 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.)