Phenomenology of psychotic mood disorders: Lifetime and major depressive episode features

Background sological and clinical implications of psychotic features in the course of mood disorders have been widely debated. Currently, no specification exists for defining a subgroup of lifetime Psychotic Mood Disorder (PMD) patients. s l of 2178 patients were examined, including subjects with Bipolar Disorder (BP) type I (n = 519) and II (n = 207) and Major Depressive Disorder (n = 1452). Patients were divided between PMD (n = 645) and non-psychotic Mood Disorders (MD) (n = 1533) by the lifetime presence of at least one mood episode with psychotic features. Subjects having a depressive episode at the time of assessment were also examined: HAM-D and YMRS scores were compared between MD and PMD subjects, both with and without current psychotic features. s nosis of BP-I, a higher familial load for BP, a higher number of mood episodes lifetime, and a higher prevalence of OCD and somatic comorbidities were all associated to PMD. A diagnosis of BP (OR = 4.48) was the only significant predictor for psychosis. PMD with non-psychotic depression were apparently less severe than MD patients and had a lower rate of “non-responders” to AD treatment. Sub-threshold manic symptoms and suicidal risk were also more pronounced among PMD. tions ck of information about number and polarity of previous psychotic mood episodes may be the major limitations of our study. sions gnosis is the most significant predictor for psychosis in mood disorders. Non-psychotic mood episodes in PMD patients may be characterized by a distinctive symptom profile and, possibly, a different response to treatment.