Minor Depression: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Minor depression is both common and has a significant impact on the health care system, and therefore deserves further study.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Close Monitoring Program for Minor Depression and Distress

“…Minor and subsyndromal depression are almost twice as common in primary care (PC) as major depression, [1][2][3] leading to greater health care utilization 4 and increased dysfunction and disability, [5][6][7] and putting patients at risk for the development of major depressive disorder. 8 Although findings on the morbidity associated with low levels of depression 4,5,9,10 suggest the potential value of treatment, no evidence-based guidelines have been established 11 .…”

Age-related decline in the ability to decode emotional prosody: Primary or secondary phenomenon?

“…Unless attempts are made to separate the effects of depressed mood and ageing, any age-related reduction in ability to decode emotional prosody could appear artificially exaggerated. Whilst participants who gave a self-report of psychiatric disorder (including depression) were excluded from the study, evidence suggests that there is a significant group of older adults with depressive symptoms who do not meet DSM-IV criteria for major depression (Beck & Koenig, 1996). Thus further attempts to separate the effects of depressive symptoms and old age are required.…”

Atrophy and High Intensity Lesions Complementary Neurobiological Mechanisms in Late-Life Major Depression

“…Our sample was comprised of 51 patients with late-life MDD and 30 non-depressed controls.All subjects were scanned on 1.5 tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner (MRI) Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the elderly (Alexopolous et al 1988;Beck and Koenig 1996;Blazer et al 1987;Blazer 1989Blazer , 1994Koenig et al 1993;Oxman et al 1987;Parmalee et al 1989;Ruegg et al 1988;Sherbourne et al 1994). The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is estimated to be approximately 1-2 percent in community settings and strikingly higher in inpatient and long term care settings (Blazer et al 1987;Koenig et al 1993;Parmalee et al 1989).…”

“…The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is estimated to be approximately 1-2 percent in community settings and strikingly higher in inpatient and long term care settings (Blazer et al 1987;Koenig et al 1993;Parmalee et al 1989). The prevalence of other clinically significant forms of depression, that do not meet the severity criteria for MDD, lies between 5 and 15 percent in all major clinical settings (Beck and Koenig 1996;Blazer et al 1987, Blazer 1994Parmalee et al 1989). Anatomical and physiological neuroimaging approaches have been utilized to study the neurobiological correlates of MDD and minor depression in the elderly (Coffey et al 1990;Coffey et al 1993;Greenwald et al 1996;Krishnan et al 1988;Krishnan 1993;Kumar et al 1997a;Lesser et al 1994;Sackheim et al 1993;Sheline et al 1996).…”