• Seon-Cheol Park, Daeho Kim, and Eun Young Jang.
• Department of Psychiatry, Yong-In Mental Hospital, Yongin, Republic of Korea; Institute of Mental Health, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• Compr Psychiatry. 2016 Apr 1; 66: 46-52.

BackgroundThere is growing evidence that exposure to severe interpersonal trauma (IPT) has a pivotal role in the development and manifestation of depression. However, it is not clearly understood whether patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have specifically increased prevalence of IPT than other non-interpersonal traumatic events and whether those with IPT have unique symptom profile within depressed groups. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of past traumatic events and symptomatic features of treatment-seeking outpatients with MDD.MethodsA consecutive sample of 111 South Korean outpatients with MDD was recruited on their first visit to a psychiatric department of a university-affiliated hospital. Participants completed the Life Events Checklist (LEC), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). The prevalence of past traumatic events on LEC was compared to medical outpatients.ResultsCompared to medical outpatients, MDD patients had significantly higher rates of IPT (physical and sexual) but not other traumatic events of non-interpersonal origin such as accidents or disaster. Compared to MDD patients without IPT (n=44, 40%), those with IPT (n=67, 60%) had higher subscale scores on hostility in SCL-90-R, as well as greater depressive and post-traumatic symptoms. However, multivariate analysis revealed that the best model to discriminate those with IPT was interaction of depressive and posttraumatic symptoms.LimitationsLimitations include sample characteristics (treatment-seeking outpatients) and possible effects of comorbid conditions, which were not investigated.ConclusionsClinicians managing individuals with depressive disorder need to include the assessment of lifetime IPT and its impact on presenting symptoms.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

25 keywords...

hide…