CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

We sought to identify clinical features that best discriminate melancholia from nonmelancholic depressive conditions. An extensive review of studies using latent factor models that identified a melancholic depression dimension/ factor was undertaken. Clinical variables extracted from these studies were ana- lyzed in terms of their contribution to a diagnosis of melancholia and their con- sistency across studies. Psychomotor retardation and mood nonreactivity were the most relevant clinical features for the identification of melancholic depres- sions. Other clinical features commonly described as weighted to melancholia, such as anhedonia, psychomotor agitation, late insomnia, or appetite/weight loss, seemed less useful in distinguishing these subtypes of depression. Study results are considered in relation to the potential limitations of current operational defi- nitions of melancholia, and how symptom sets could be modified.