The dexamethasone suppression test in delusional depression. Further findings

The results of the overnight 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) administered to 26 unipolar delusional depressed patients and 47 unipolar non-delusional depressed controls are reported. There were no significant differences between the rates of abnormal responses in the two groups. However, there was a higher percentage of normal responses in the delusional depressive sample with mood incongruency. While 55% of the mood-congruent depressive patients were non-suppressors, only 12% of the depressed patients with mood-incongruent psychotic features had abnormal DST responses.