1. Differentiating clinical and non‐clinical depression: a heuristic study offering a template for extension studies.
- Author
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Parker, G., Tavella, G., Ricciardi, T., and Hadzi‐Pavlovic, D.
- Subjects
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AFFECTIVE disorders , *HEURISTIC , *MENTAL depression , *DIAGNOSIS - Abstract
Objective: To differentiate clinical and non‐clinical depression via a set of symptoms. Methods: A sample of 140 patients attending a clinical service for those with mood disorders together with 40 subjects denying ever experiencing a clinical episode of depression were compared, with participants completing a questionnaire capturing many symptoms of depression as well as illness correlates. Results: A latent class analysis of symptom data identified two classes and with class assignment corresponding strongly with initial clinical vs. non‐clinical assignment. Univariate analyses identified the extent to which individual symptoms contributed to differentiation. Study data suggested DSM criteria that would benefit from re‐writing or of reassignment. Two models for classifying clinical depression were generated. The first involved individuals feeling hopeless and also being suicidal or at risk of self‐harm. The second involved a symptom set corresponding to DSM‐5 criteria but with only five making significant independent contributions to diagnostic differentiation. Conclusion: The study is heuristic in offering a strategy for more precisely differentiating clinical and non‐clinical depression in more representative samples, so allowing resolution of key features, and determining whether a monothetic or polythetic diagnostic symptom criterion model is optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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