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Information on hopelessness at the population level is limited, and no previous studies have focused on its stability in a general population. We examined the stability and associated factors of hopelessness in a general population sample of 1,389 adults. More than half of those who were hopeless at baseline remained hopeless on follow-up. When those with a mental disorder were excluded, the relative risk for stable hopelessness in unemployed men was 7.2 (95% CI 2.6-19.9), in men with a poor financial situation it was 3.5 (95% CI 1.3-9.3), and in women with a poor financial situation it was 3.8 (95% CI 1.5-9.4). Awareness of the stability of hopelessness offers us newpossibilities in preventative and mental health work.

We investigated the association between cognitive performance and major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents seeking outpatient treatment. We used several tests comparing cognitive capacities between 16 adolescents with MDD and 25 adolescents not diagnosed as suffering from psychiatric illness according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). No difference in neuropsychological test performance was found between adolescents with MDD and those without psychiatric diagnosis. Logistic regression analysis showed the only independent factor associated with MDD to be Emotional Tone (S2; odds ratio 1.13). The specific effects of MDD on the adolescents were restricted to the emotional area and were expressed as a broad deterioration in psychosocial functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether somatic comorbidity (SC) impedes recovery from depression. Method: The study design was naturalistic. Diagnosis of depression was confirmed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). Changes in the symptom scales for those patients with somatic comorbidity (n = 75) were compared with corresponding changes in depressive patients without somatic comorbidity (n = 41) in a 6-month follow up. Results: Measured on the Hamilton and Beck scales, recovery rates of those with SC was only slightly lower to that of the others. The difference was statistically significant only in relation to the Hamilton scale. Forty-four per cent of those with SC and 42% of the other patients recovered from their depression (BDI score < 10 on follow up). Logistic regression analysis showed no independent association between recovery and somatic comorbidity. Conclusions: Moderate somatic comorbidity has only a minor effect on recovery from depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]