Can mildly depressed outpatients with atypical depression benefit from antidepressants

Objective: The authors' goal was to explore the efficacy of antidepressant medications in outpatients with mild depression. Method: Four hundred one outpatients were diagnosed as depressed by DSM-III criteria. Atypical Depression Diagnostic Scale criteria were also applied to these patients; these criteria require reactivity of mood plus two of four associated features, including hypersomnia, hyperphagia, leaden paralysis, and pathological sensitivity to rejection