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Psychotic symptoms in mood disorders: evaluation of 159 inpatients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

A Lenzi
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Via Roma 67, Pisa, Italy
A Rinaldi
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Via Roma 67, Pisa, Italy
I Bianco
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Via Roma 67, Pisa, Italy
C Balestri
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Via Roma 67, Pisa, Italy
D Marazziti*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Via Roma 67, Pisa, Italy
*
*Correspondence and reprints: D Marazziti, Istituto di Clinica Psichiatrica, Via Roma 57, 56100 Pisa, Italy.
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Summary

The authors investigated the historical and clinical variables of 159 inpatients affected by mood disorders in order to identify variables which might differentiate psychotic from non-psychotic forms. The results showed that 32% of the patients had psychotic symptoms. Although no significant difference was detected with regard to the severity of depression, psychotic depressives were younger and had a lower age at onset, as well as a shorter episode length. These features suggest that depression may express itself with or without psychotic symptoms, according to the different individual and, perhaps, biological substrate. Taken together, our findings seem to indicate that psychotic depression should not be considered a separate clinical entity, but a subtype of mood disorders.

Type
Original articles
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1996

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