Clinical and Physiological Correlates of Irritability in Depression: Results from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety

Verhoeven, Floor E. A.; Booij, Linda; Wee, Nic J.A. van der; Penninx, Brenda; Does, A.J.W. van der

doi:10.1155/2011/126895

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In both sexes, irritability seems to be associated with more significant depressive symptoms. This finding is consistent with what was previously observed in a clinical population of adult patients with MDD seeking treatment (Perlis et al, 2009) and in a community sample (Verhoeven et al, 2011). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Earlier reports (Perlis et al, 2009; Verhoeven et al, 2011) have also observed that irritability in depressed patients is associated with anxiety symptoms, but these previous studies did not examine this association separately in men and women and in young adults. Our finding may be explained by the fact that irritability is a prominent symptom of GAD according to the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) and that GAD alone, and, similarly, GAD co-occurring with depression, is more common among women than men (McLean et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Correlates of Irritability in College Students With Depressive Symptoms

Pedrelli¹,

Nyer²,

Holt³

et al. 2013

Journal of Nervous &Amp; Mental Disease

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Depression is a prevalent psychiatric disorder associated with significant personal and societal burden. There is accumulating evidence for the presence of a subtype of depression characterized by the presence of irritability that is associated with increased morbidity, risk for suicidal ideation, and functional impairments in adults. Little is known about the features of depressive symptoms with and without irritability among young adults in college. The primary aim of this study was to characterize the presentation of college students with depressive symptoms and irritability. Two-hundred eighty-seven undergraduate college students with depressive symptoms with and without irritability were compared across several psychiatric and functional outcome variables. Independent samples t-tests or logistic regressions were conducted for each outcome variable using the irritability item of the Beck Depression Inventory as a dichotomous grouping variable. Analyses were conducted separately for the men and the women. Both male and female students with depressive symptoms and severe irritability reported a greater severity of depressive symptoms compared with their peers with no or mild irritability. In the women, the presence of irritability was associated with greater symptoms of anxiety, whereas in the men, it was associated with increased likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors, including compulsive use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and prescription drugs. The male and female college students with depressive symptoms with and without irritability did not differ on severity of suicidal ideation, hopelessness, or cognitive functioning. The findings from this study suggest that depressive symptoms and irritability may characterize a subtype of college students who have a greater symptom burden and with the potential need for more aggressive and prompt treatment.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Correlates of Irritability in College Students With Depressive Symptoms

Pedrelli¹,

Nyer²,

Holt³

et al. 2013

Journal of Nervous &Amp; Mental Disease

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is consistent with the finding in numerous clinical studies that a high proportion of adult patients in treatment for MDD have symptoms of irritability . It also ties in with the point made in the introduction that irritability might be a useful severity marker or a useful basis for subtyping adults with DSM‐IV MDD even if it is not a useful basis for expanding the definition of MDD. It might be the case that information about irritability has relevance for depression treatment.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…A distinction must be made here between using irritability as a severity marker or a subtyping distinction among adults with DSM-IV MDD and using irritability to expand the definition of major depression. Whereas existing research suggests that irritability in MDD may serve as a severity marker in clinical samples [7,8] and have possible value as a diagnostic subtyping symptom, [4,8] we are unaware of previous evidence on the implications of allowing irritability to be used to expand the definition of adult MDD. Revising adult MDD criteria to include irritability might help offset some postulated gender bias in depression measurement, as sociocultural theories suggest that current diagnostic criteria might be insensitive to gender differences in affective expression due to men manifesting depression less than women in terms of sadness and loss of interest and more in terms of irritability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Irritable Mood in Adult Major Depressive Disorder: Results From the World Mental Health Surveys

Kovess-Masfety

Alonso

Angermeyer³

et al. 2013

Depress Anxiety

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Although irritability is a core symptom of DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD) for youth but not adults, clinical studies find comparable rates of irritability between nonbipolar depressed adults and youth. Including irritability as a core symptom of adult MDD would allow detection of depression-equivalent syndromes with primary irritability hypothesized to be more common among males than females. We carried out a preliminary examination of this issue using cross-national community-based survey data from 21 countries in the World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys (n = 110,729). Methods The assessment of MDD in the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview includes one question about persistent irritability. We examined two expansions of the definition of MDD involving this question: (1) cases with dysphoria and/or anhedonia and exactly four of nine Criterion A symptoms plus irritability; and (2) cases with two or more weeks of irritability plus four or more other Criterion A MDD symptoms in the absence of dysphoria or anhedonia. Results Adding irritability as a tenth Criterion A symptom increased lifetime prevalence by 0.4% (from 11.2 to 11.6%). Adding episodes of persistent irritability increased prevalence by an additional 0.2%. Proportional prevalence increases were significantly higher, but nonetheless small, among males compared to females. Rates of severe role impairment were significantly lower among respondents with this irritable depression who did not meet conventional DSM-IV criteria than those with DSM-IV MDD. Conclusion Although limited by the superficial assessment in this single question on irritability, results do not support expanding adult MDD criteria to include irritable mood.

show abstract

“…Irritability has been conceptualized as being “easily annoyed and provoked to anger” and having “a mood dominated by poor control over temper” . It can range from subjective feelings and cognitions to overt expressions of anger . Irritability is part of human experience but some people are more prone to it because of their personality, temperament, or mental health condition .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%