Knowledge about affective disorders and outcome of depression.

Background: For affective disorders, imparting information about the illness has become standard treatment. Despite the great clinical relevance of knowledge about depression, few empirical studies on this subject have been carried out. The aim of the study was to identify the prognostic value of knowledge about affective disorders for the two year outcome of depression.

Methods: 62 first-hospitalised patients with major depression were recruited and tested with the Knowledge about Depression and Mania Inventory (KDMI). The patients were followed-up after 1 and 2 years.

Results: In the 2-year follow-up period, 28 patients (45.2%) had a recurrent or chronic course of depression. Patients with stable remission had significantly more knowledge about affective disorders compared to patients with recurrence or chronic depression. Knowledge about treatment was prognostically relevant whereas knowledge about symptoms and knowledge about coping were not.

Conclusions: The results show that knowledge about affective disorders and especially knowledge about treatment is a predictor for the outcome of depression. This indicates the necessity of multidimensional assessment of knowledge about disorder. Future studies should examine the mechanisms underlying the prognostic effect in order to improve treatment of depression.