The prevalence of atypical features across mood, anxiety, and personality disorders

This study examines and compares the prevalence rates of the atypical features subtype across each of the major mood, anxiety, and personality disorders (PDs). It also evaluates the impact that comorbid anxiety and PDs have on the likelihood that depressed patients will present with atypical symptoms. Eleven hundred thirty psychiatric outpatients were evaluated for the presence of atypical symptoms. All axis I diagnoses were made using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). PDs were assessed in a subset of 530 patients using the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV). From a sample of 579 patients diagnosed with a current major depressive disorder, 22.5% met criteria for the atypical subtype. Prevalence rates were similar in bipolar and unipolar patients, although the pattern of symptoms was distinct. Prevalence rates were lower in patients with dysthymic disorder (12.5%), adjustment disorder with depressed mood (9.4%), and depression not otherwise specified (NOS) (7.9%). When major depression existed in the presence of a comorbid anxiety disorder, the likelihood of presenting with atypical features doubled. Nine percent of the patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (without a comorbid depressive disorder) met criteria for atypical features. Two of the four atypical symptoms, leaden paralysis and rejection sensitivity, were found to be especially prominent in nondepressed anxiety disorder patients. Of the 10 PDs listed in DSM-IV, only avoidant PD was associated with the atypical features subtype. In large part, this was accounted for by the high rate of rejection sensitivity in these patients. In conclusion, as many as one quarter of depressed patients who present for outpatient psychiatric treatment meet criteria for the atypical features subtype. There appears to be a strong association between anxiety and atypical depression, but the exact nature of this relationship needs to be further elucidated. It is unclear whether personality pathology is independently associated with the atypical features subtype.