Minor depression, an underdiagnosed and undertreated subset of major depressive disorder that affects upwards of 15 million Americans, can be effectively treated with a drug called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), according to a multi-center study led by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and published in the October 2004 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
“This is especially important since patients with minor depression are not only at risk for significant psychosocial impairment, but for major depressive episodes that can be even more debilitating,” said the study’s lead author, Lewis L. Judd, M.D., professor of psychiatry and chair of the UCSD Department of Psychiatry
He added that unclear categories of illness and diagnosis in the past have led psychiatrists to generally consider minor depression to be a negligible condition that didn’t require any treatment. While some mental health professionals have considered minor depression to be a non-specific variation of normal mood, more recent studies have identified it as a clinically significant medical condition.
Now, urging that minor depression can and should be treated, Judd said the new study of 162 patients with minor depressive disorder showed that patients given the SSRI fluoxetine (brand name Prozac) over a 12-week period showed significantly greater improvement in mood and psychosocial function as compared to depressed patients receiving a placebo. Several standard psychiatric tests were used to compare the results.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) notes that minor depression is a common disorder that can impair a person’s functioning and quality of life, and serve as a serious risk factor for major depression. The difference between major and minor depression is the number of symptoms. Major depressive disorder includes the primary criteria of sadness plus at least five symptoms (such as insomnia, weight loss or gain, low energy, difficulty concentrating, reduction in sexual drive, suicidal ideas and/or behavior, psychomotor slowing, restlessness or irritability, inertia to initiate activity, and persistent physical symptoms, such as headache or digestive disorders, that don’t respond to treatment); minor depression includes the same primary sadness plus one or two additional symptoms.