[Somato-autonomic symptoms in different types of seasonal affective disorders]

Ninety-seven patients (76 female, mean age 31,2 years and 21 male, mean age 34,6 years) who had a diagnosis (according to ICD-10) of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), depressive episode, have been studied. It is shown that SAD included at least two types of depression with different somato-autonomic symptoms. They were classified as SAD with anesthetic somato-autonomic complex (type 1) and SAD with hyperesthetic somato-autonomic complex (type 2). The authors set up a hypothesis that a particular personality predisposition (constitutional or acquired) in a form of hypochondriac diathesis (type 1) and neuropathic diathesis with weather and climate sensitivity (type 2) can be considered as a causative factor of seasonality of depression and predomination of somato-autonomic symptoms in its structure.