Possible cultural effects on the increments of somatic symptoms in subjectively resilient depressed patients

• Published in: Asia-Pacific psychiatry 2014-09, Vol.6 (3), p.259-266
• Main Authors: Um, Yoo-Hyun, Huh, Hyu-Jung, Kim, Sun-Young, Chae, Jeong-Ho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Antidepressants; Correlation analysis; depression; Depression - complications; Depression - ethnology; Female; Humans; Inventory; Male; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Psychiatry; psychological resilience; repression; Republic of Korea - ethnology; Resilience, Psychological; somatization; Somatoform Disorders - ethnology; Somatoform Disorders - etiology
• ISSN: 1758-5864; 1758-5872
• DOI: 10.1111/appy.12143

Introduction While previous literatures have provided substantial evidence on the burden of somatic symptoms and the prognostic value of resilience in the treatment course of depression, little is speculated on the relationship between resilience and somatic symptoms in depressed patients. We aimed to clarify the relationship between resilience and somatic symptoms in depressed patients retrospectively. Methods Two hundred and fifty‐four outpatients with depressive disorders participated in the study and completed self‐administered questionnaires regarding demographic, clinical and psychological factors. We divided the patients into four groups based on their scores of Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. The partial correlation analysis was implemented to show the relationship between somatic symptoms and resilience after controlling for depression, and one‐way analysis of variance was conducted to demonstrate the differences in somatization scores of Symptoms Checklist‐90‐Revised in the aforementioned four groups. Results After the correlation analysis, somatization was significantly correlated with resilience even after controlling for depressive symptoms. The one‐way analysis of vairance and post‐hoc analysis revealed statistically significant differences in somatization scores between the four groups, with the high Beck Depression Inventory, high Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale group having the highest somatization scores. Discussion Striving to be resilient during the peak of depression, cultural factors and positive illusions of depressed patients can result in high resilience scores and high somatization scores in depressed patients, and such clinical implications would help clinicians evaluate resilience and somatization in depressed patients with multidimensional aspects.