A psychopathological study into the relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adult patients and recurrent brief depression.

Hesslinger B, Tebartz van Elst L, Mochan F, Ebert D.

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Universitatsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.

bernd.hesslinger@psyallg.ukl.uni-freiburg.de

OBJECTIVE: Clinical and epidemiological observations and neurobiological data suggest that there might be an inherent link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and recurrent brief depression (RBD). In this psychopathological study, we investigated the comorbidity between these two conditions. METHOD: Using an index patient approach 40 adult out-patients fulfilling the criteria for ADHD were investigated for lifetime history of RBD and another 40 out-patients with the primary diagnosis of RBD were investigated for a lifetime history of ADHD. RESULTS: We found a high prevalence of RBD in patients with ADHD (70%) while the prevalence of ADHD in the index sample with RBD was smaller (about 40%). CONCLUSION: In terms of comorbidity ADHD was the second commonest psychiatric disorder in patients with RBD next to other affective disorders. The psychopathological pattern of lifetime comorbidity might be of clinical relevance in terms of medical treatment.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12752035&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_DocSum