Abstract
Though dysthymia is considered less severe and more chronic than major depressive disorder, it is unclear whether the two disorders are truly different. In this study, MMPI-2 scales of 21 patients with dysthymia and 30 patients with major depressive disorder were compared. The average scores on Scales 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 were in the clinical range for both groups. However, sizable differences between the two groups were found for Scale 1 and Scale 3. Smaller but reliable differences were found for Scale 2 and mean clinical scale T score with major depressives scoring higher on all of these measures. Results indicate that not only is major depressive disorder more severe than dysthymia, but also contains more physical/somatic symptoms than dysthymia.
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