CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PERCEIVED STRESS AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AMONG DEPRESSIVE OUTPATIENTS

Cognitive distortions associated with depression may amplify the sense of strain and pressure derived from everyday stressors. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), designed to assess the degree to which situations are perceived as stressful, was administered before and after open treatment with fluoxetine 20 mg/day for eight weeks to 60 consecutive outpatients with major depression (15 men and 45 women; mean age: 36.9 +/- 10.6 years) and to 22 normal controls (11 men and 11 women; mean age: 34.6 +/- 10.1 years). Pretreatment, the mean PSS score among the depressed patients was 38.8 +/- 6.4, which was significantly higher (z score: 6.33; p < 0.0001) than that (22:4 +/- 7.0) of the group of normal controls. After treatment with fluoxetine, the mean PSS score was 25.1 +/- 8.9, not different from controls but significantly different from baseline (paired t-test = 10.8; p < 0.0001). The correlation between PSS and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D-17) scores was significant both before (r = 0.33; p < 0.02) and after (r = 0.62; p < 0.0001) treatment with fluoxetine. An even greater correlation was found between differences in pre- and posttreatment PSS scores and differences in pre- and posttreatment HAM-D-17 scores (r = 0.65; p < 0.0001).