Negative symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder: a preliminary report

The purpose of this study was to examine negative symptoms (NSs) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and their relation to depressive symptoms (DSs) and other psychiatric symptoms.

Features similar to NSs were previously described in patients with depression.

The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and Mini-Mental State Examination were administered to 23 patients with MDD and 10 normal control subjects.

As expected, the mean scores of the HRSD, SANS, and negative symptom subscale of the PANSS of the patients with MDD were significantly higher than those of control subjects, validating the clinical significance of NSs as well as DSs in MDD patients. Within the MDD group, although measures of NSs were intercorrelated, there were no other correlations between the measures. Thus, measures of NSs and DSs were not intercorrelated. When the HRSD was divided in two subscales, HRSD negative symptom subscale scores but not HRSD depressive symptom subscale scores were correlated with PANSS negative symptom subscale and SANS total scores as well as with scores on the affective flattening subscale.

These results suggest a high level of NSs in patients with MDD, which are distinct from positive symptoms of depression and may constitute a distinct dimension. Negative symptoms and DSs in MDD may represent separate constructs. Further, the HRSD might have possible subscales in MDD as it does in schizophrenia.