Taufiq Iqtidar, Jameel Ayesha, Naheed Shagufta, Hamirani Muneer, Zulqernain Ali.
Frequency of phenomenology in depressive illness.
J Liaquat Uni Med Health Sci Jan ;11(2):76-83.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the frequency of depressive symptoms in both genders among the depressive patients at a psychiatric clinic of tertiary care hospital. STUDY DESIGN: Cross sectional study SETTING: Department of Psychiatry, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center, Karachi DURATION: Six months (Nov-2006 to May 2007) SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A sample of 100 new consecutive patients including both the genders coming to the researcher’s consulting room was assessed for caseness of depression. Diagnosis was made by using ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria for Research. Diagnosed patients were then seen for the severity of illness by rating them on Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). RESULTS: Analysis indicated that among the psychological symptoms, feeling sad was the most common seen in 34% of the patients. In males, compared to females, hopelessness and lack of confidence was predominant (11.8% vs 1.5%), while high proportions of females, compared to male patients, complaint of irritability (27.3% vs 8.8%) and feeling like crying all the time (34.8% vs 14.7%). Among the somatic complaints headache was the most common reported by 39% of patients, which was significantly higher in females than males (47.0 vs 23.5%). CONCLUSION: Men and women in this study reported similar patterns and severity symptoms of depression. No evidence that presentation of depressive symptoms differs by gender was found. Understanding of phenomenology is a major tool to aid in early detection and diagnosis of depression.

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