Depression in the early stages of Pick's disease.

To better understand the nature of the symptoms of depression in the early stages of Pick's disease, we performed a retrospective study of the medical records of eight patients who were originally treated for major depressive disorders before being clinically diagnosed with Pick's disease. Six of the eight manifested psychomotor retardation and social withdrawal, seven of the eight were agitated and five of the eight showed hyperbulia too. However, only two of the eight showed melancholia or physical symptoms such as insomnia or loss of appetite. All patients were treated with antidepressants but these were not effective in relieving the symptoms of depression. The data we gathered in this study will be useful in the future for distinguishing between Pick's disease-related depression (in the early stages of the disease) and major depression.