Characterizing organic mood syndrome, depressed type.

In this report, a first comprehensive description of the clinical features of patients with organic mood syndrome, depressed type (OMS-D), in a psychiatric hospital population is presented. This description is based on information from 130 OMS-D patients among 14,889 patients who presented for initial evaluation over a 5-year period. This description includes an enumeration of the common clinical symptoms of this syndrome. Following this, the severity of the symptoms of OMS-D are compared with those of its crude "functional" equivalent of major depressive disorder, single episode (MDD-SE). In addition, associated factors are presented concerning demographics, level of functioning, comorbidity, electroencephalographic and computed tomographic abnormalities, and current physical problems. These findings provide preliminary support for the validity of this diagnostic category, and provide relevant information concerning proposed changes in this category as listed in the DSM-IV Options Book.