Ha. Robertson et al., ATYPICAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND CLUSTERS IN UNIPOLAR AND BIPOLAR DEPRESSION, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 94(6), 1996, pp. 421-427
In order to examine differences in the atypical symptoms of depression
between unipolar and bipolar patients, we studied 109 depressed patie
nts (79 unipolar and 30 bipolar subjects) diagnosed with DSM-IV criter
ia. Patients were assessed using the Atypical Depression Diagnostic Sc
ale (ADDS), a semi-structured interview that rates mood reactivity and
other atypical depressive symptoms. Although atypical depression was
common in this sample (28% of cases with definite atypical depression)
, no differences were found between the unipolar and bipolar patients
in either the atypical symptom profile or the prevalence of an atypica
l depression diagnosis. The interrelationships between the atypical sy
mptoms were also examined using a hierarchical cluster analysis. A fiv
e-cluster solution maximized differences between groups, with results
suggesting that atypical depression may be a heterogeneous diagnosis.