Chief Complaint
The chief complaint presented by depressed patients often pints immediately to the diagnosis of depression; although it sometimes suggest a physical disturbance.
Skillful questioning can generally determine whether the basic symptomatology is present.
The chief complaint may take a variety of forms:
*an unpleasant emotional state
*a changed attitude toward life
*somatic symptoms of a specifically depressive nature
*somatic symptoms not typical of depression
Although depression is generally considered an affective disorder, it should be emphasized that a subjective change on mood is not reported by all depressed patients.
As in many other disorders, the absence of a significant clinical feature does not rule out the diagnosis of that disorder. Only 53 percent of the mildly depressed patients acknowledges feeling sad or unhappy.
Chief Complaint
The most popular articles
-
Battered Person Syndrome (BPS), often referred to as Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS), describes the psychological effects experienced by indiv... -
Depression is undoubtedly the most common mental health problem, especially when its milder form - dysphoria - is also included. In the Unit... -
Meaning of Depression One of the difficulties in conceptualizing depression is essentially semantic, that term has been variously applied to...
-
Ranging from ongoing sadness or depression to moving between intense depression and happiness, mood disorders are feelings or states of mind... -
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is one of a group of behavioral disorders called disruptive behavior disorders (DBD). It most commonly e...
