The factor structure of lifetime depressive spectrum in patients with unipolar depression

Abstract

Background While previous attempts to elucidate the factor structure of depression tended to agree on a central focus on depressed mood, other factors were not replicated across studies. By examining data from a large number of items covering the range of depressive symptoms, the aim of the present study is to contribute to the identification of the structure of depression on a lifetime perspective. Methods The study sample consisted of 598 patients with unipolar depression who were administered the Mood Spectrum Self-Report (lifetime version) in Italian (N=415) or English (N=183). In addition to classical exploratory factor analysis using tetrachoric correlation coefficients, an IRT-based factor analysis approach was adopted to analyze the data on 74 items of the instrument that explore cognitive, mood and energy/activity features associated with depression. Results Six factors were identified, including `Depressive Mood', `Psychomotor Retardation', `Suicidality', `Drug/Illness related depression', `Psychotic Features' and `Neurovegetative Symptoms', accounting overall for 48.3% of the variance of items. Limitations Clinical information on onset of depression and duration of illness is available only for 350 subjects. Therefore, differences between sites can only be partially accounted using available data. Conclusions Our study confirms the central role of depressed mood, psychomotor retardation and suicidality and identifies the factors `Drug/Illness related depression', `Psychotic features' and the neurovegetative dysregulation not captured by the instruments most frequently used in previous studies. The identification of patients with specific profiles on multiple factors may be useful in achieving greater precision in neuroimaging studies and in informing treatment selection.

Incidence and predictors of relapse during continuation treatment of major depression with SSRI, interpersonal psychotherapy, or their combination

“…Fifteen factors were derived in two factor analyses of depression and mania/hypomania spectrum items (depressive mood, psychomotor retardation, suicidality, drug/illness-related depression, psychotic features, and neurovegetative symptoms; psychomotor activation, creativity, mixed instability, sociability/extraversion, spirituality/mysticism/psychoticism, mixed irritability, inflated selfesteem, euphoria, and wastefulness/recklessness). [33,34] The PAS-SR is a self-report instrument exploring the presence of panic/agoraphobic symptoms and consists of 114 items coded as present or absent for one or more periods of at least 3-5 days in the lifetime. The factor analysis of the lifetime PAS-SR identified 10 factors: ''panic symptoms,'' ''agoraphobia,'' ''claustrophobia,'' ''separation anxiety,'' ''fear of losing control,'' ''drug sensitivity and phobia,'' ''medical reassurance,'' ''rescue object,'' ''loss sensitivity,'' and ''reassurance from family members.''…”

Abnormal Time Experiences in Major Depression: An Empirical Qualitative Study

“…In the DSM-5, PMR is a frequent marker of the melancholic subtype of MDD. It involves a set of disturbances in cognitive, motor, and psychosocial domains [57] . It is deemed a relevant aspect of bipolar depressive episodes and finally a supposed phenotypic marker of bipolar liability [58,59] .…”

Development and Validation of the Sleep Inertia Questionnaire (SIQ) and Assessment of Sleep Inertia in Analogue and Clinical Depression

“…Several lines of evidence suggest that studies of sleep inertia are particularly important in mood disorders. Most notably, people with mood disorders often report considerable difficulty getting out of bed (Cassano et al 2009; Ritter et al 2012). This can be associated with significant impairment and can impede the optimal implementation of interventions for mood disorders, particularly activity scheduling (Cuijpers et al 2007) and behavioral activation (Hopko et al 2003).…”