A Prospective Study of Depressed Outpatients who Visited the Department of Internal Psychosomatic Medicine (Report 1 : The Relationship between Types of Depression and Outcome)

Abstract

We studied prospectively the relationship between the types of depression and the outcome. Subjects were recruited from outpatients visiting for the first time the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Kyushu University Hospital from December 1, 1999 to May 31, 2000. One hundred and fifty-seven patients met the DSM-IV diagnosis criteria of major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, adjustment disorder with depressive mood and depressive disorder not otherwise specified. Of these, 65 patients adequately completing treatment during the 6 months were available. We conducted follow-up evaluations at 1, 3 and 6 months after the baseline assessment using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Zung Self-rating Depression Scale. All types of depression showed clinically significant decreases on the HAM-D scores at 3 months after and further improvements at 6-month follow-up. We discussed the meaning of treating depressed patients at the department of internal psychosomatic medicine.