V. Agosti et Jw. Stewart, SOCIAL FUNCTIONING AND RESIDUAL SYMPTOMATOLOGY AMONG OUTPATIENTS WHO RESPONDED TO TREATMENT AND RECOVERED FROM MAJOR DEPRESSION, Journal of affective disorders, 47(1-3), 1998, pp. 207-210
It is unclear whether depressed patients who respond to treatment, and
subsequently recover, manifest a significant degree of residual sympt
omatology and enduring psychosocial impairment. The purpose of this st
udy was to compare the social functioning and symptoms of depressed ou
tpatients who responded to acute treatment, and had a sustained recove
ry from major depression for 6 months, with psychiatrically normal com
munity samples. The sample (n = 48) was drawn from the NIMH Treatment
of Depression Collaborative Research Program. The Social Adjustment Sc
ale scores and the Symptom Check List of recovered patients were clini
cally indistinguishable from the community sample scores. These data s
uggest that patients who benefit from acute treatment and recover from
major depression can expect to achieve a normal level of functioning
and symptomatology. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.