Brain density in depression: methodological and psychopathological aspects

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Abstract
The relationship between brain density, measured by computerized tomography (CT), and severity of depression was investigated in 44 patients with a major depressive episode according to DSM‐III. In order to limit methodological problems, correlations between both the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Bech‐Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (BRMS) with density values were controlled for age, different ventricle measurements, brain size, and density and size of the skull. The BRMS score correlated inversely with density of the right thalamus, the right head of the caudate, and with parietal grey matter and occipital regions of both hemispheres. Similar, but nonsignificant results, were obtained for the BPRS score.