Psychopathological and clinical-typological aspects of youth chronic endogenous depression

Abstract

Introduction

Youth ontogenesis contributes significantly to depressive disorders, causing pronounced atypia, a high level of comorbid pathology. A long-term depressive state lead can to persistent, adverse consequences.

Objectives

To study the clinical, psychopathological and psychometric features of youth chronic endogenous depression (UCED).

Methods

62 patients of the age 16-25 were examined clinically and psychopathologically; the patients were first hospitalized from 2017 to 2020 for a chronic depressive state with non-psychotic mental disorders (ICD-10: F31, F32, F33, F34, F21 keys) lasting more than two years. Psychometric assessment was done by HDRS, SOPS, and SANS.

Results

UCED are characterized by a pronounced atypia with a predominance of symptoms for negative affectivity with apathy, anhedonia, physical and mental asthenia, depressive devitalization. In contrast with non-chronic youth depressions, cognitive disorders, motor inhibition, a large proportion of comorbid pathology are presented in the chronic ones. Depending on the prevalence of additional psychopathological disorders, 2 types were distinguished: Type I – depression with a clear-cut affective psychopathological structure (54.8%, 34 patients); Type II - depression with the symptoms of other than affective registers (45.2%, 28 patients). Psychometric assessment on the HDRS scale, in the sub-scale “negative symptoms” of the SOPS scale, in the sub-scale “anhedonia-associality” of the SANS scale showed a greater severity of psychopathological symptoms in type II depression (p<0.05).

Conclusions

The obtained data confirm the differences between UCED and non-chronic youth depressions and demonstrate the aggravating effect of symptoms of the non-affective spectrum on the severity of UCED and the level of negative affectivity.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.