We examine the capacity of a new melancholia index (focussing on CORE signs indicative of psychomotor change) to predict response to antidepressant medication. In a naturalistic study, depressed patients were assessed and rated by their treating psychiatrist, and we focus on those who received antidepressants for three weeks or more. Those subjects who returned high CORE scores (putative melancholia) at baseline improved more over the initial six weeks, but analyses suggested that the differential improvement outcome was independent of medication. Thus, CORE scores predicted outcome for those receiving antidepressant medication, but possible mechanisms remain unresolved.
References
1.
ParkerGHadzi-PavlovicDBoycePWilhelmKBrodatyHMitchellPHickieIEyersK.Classifying depression by mental state signs. British Journal of Psychiatry1990; 157:55–65.
2.
NelsonJCCharneyDS.The symptoms of major depressive illness. American Journal of Psychiatry1981; 138:1–13.
3.
ParkerGHadzi-PavlovicDBoyceP.Endogenous depression as a construct: a quantitative analysis of the literature and a study of clinician judgments. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry1989; 23:357–368.
4.
KilohLGAndrewsGNeilsonMBianchiGN.The relationship of the syndromes called endogenous and neurotic depression. British Journal of Psychiatry1972; 121:183–196.
5.
HickieIParsonageBParkerG.Prediction of response to electroconvulsive therapy. Preliminary validation of a sign-based typology of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry1990; 157: 65–71.
6.
ZungWWK.A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry1964; 12:63–70.
