Depressive Disorders

Question 1

criteria A for major depressive disorder

Answer 1

5/9 symptoms, 1 of which must be depressed mood or anhedonia for most days, most of the day for two weeks: 
1 depressed mood 
2 anhedonia 
3 weight or appetite change 
4 sleep disturbance 
5 psychomotor
6 fatigue 
7 low  self-worth or guilt 
8 cognitive impairments 
9 thoughts of death or suicide

Question 2

antidepressant medication

Answer 2

SSRIs most common
75% of people diagnosed prescribed
30-50% do not respond to medication
effective for MDD, severe, recurrent

Question 3

problems with antidepressant medication research

Answer 3

• high correlation between efficacy of SSRI and funding
• selecting participants who have benefited previously
• Dr vs client report of improvement
• active placebo vs. inactive placebo
• remove “drop-outs” from study
• hx of publication bias: 94% published studies; 51% unpublished