Latent Bipolarity In Unipolar Depression: Experimental Findings, Conceptual Analysis And Implications For Treatment Strategies.

Introduction: Previous studies have suggested that the two opposite poles of psychomotor disturbances in unipolar depression (UD) - retardation and agitation - require different treatment strategies as the psychomotor overactivation requires an augmentation of the antidepressant therapy with mood stabilizers and/or atypical antipsychotics.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to objectively identify and measure the psycho-motor disturbances in UD using differentiation between activity and reactivity.

Material And Methods: An equilibriometric movement pattern analysis system that allows differentiation between psychomotor activity and reactivity was applied in 58 unipolar depressive patients and 76 healthy controls.