REAL-LIFE FUNCTIONING DOMAINS IN PATIENTS WITH AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Affective disorders, including depression and mania, often lead to impairments in real-life functioning.
• Understanding the link between symptom severity and functional outcomes is crucial for effective treatment.
• This study addresses the gap in knowledge regarding functional deficits in clinical populations with varying affective disorder severity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate real-life functioning domains in patients with depression and mania.
• To assess the relationship between symptom severity and functional outcomes in these patient groups.
• To compare functional impairments between patients and healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 23 outpatients (16 depression, 7 mania) and 44 healthy controls.
• Utilized the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) for symptom severity.
• Assessed functioning using the Specific Levels of Functioning Scale (SLOF), with statistical analyses including Chi-square tests and Pearson's correlations.

Main Results:

• Depressive patients showed significant functional deficits across all domains, particularly physical functioning and personal care.
• Manic patients exhibited similar domain-specific impairments, though less differentiated by severity.
• Symptom severity (HDRS/YMRS) showed minimal correlation with functioning, except for depression severity inversely correlating with social acceptability (r=-0.56, p<0.03).

Conclusions:

• Affective disorders broadly impair real-life functioning independently of symptom severity.
• Depression severity showed an inverse relationship with social acceptability, a notable exception.
• Functional impairments may represent distinct disease dimensions, necessitating targeted psychosocial interventions beyond symptom management.