Psychotic depressive disorder. A separate entity?

Two groups of patients suffering from primary unipolar major depressive disorder, one with (n = 145) and one without (n = 119) psychotic disorders were compared, in order to elucidate whether psychotic depressive disorder represents a distinct subtype or a severe variation of the illness. Except for more frequent appearance of psychomotor disturbances among the psychotic depressives, no demographic, family history and course variables were found to distinguish between those with or without psychotic features. The findings from our study are compatible with the view that psychotic depressive disorder is a severe variant of major depressive illness.