OBJECTIVE

To identify the specific features of cognitive functioning in patients with youth chronic endogenous depressions (YCED).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Fifty-one male patients with YCED (duration 36.5±12.5 month) and 18 patients with youth depression without chronic course as a comparison group were examined. A neuropsychological battery of the following techniques was used to assess cognitive functioning: the Rey — Osterrieth complex figure test, the Design Fluency Test, the Verbal Fluency Test, the 20-question Test, the Color-Word Interference Test, arithmetic problem solving, compilation of stories based on Bidstrup’s cartoons, SDMT, the Digit span.

RESULTS

Based on the heterogeneity of psychopathological features of YCED, two types were identified: unitary depressions (type 1) and supplementary depressions (type 2). Among type 2 depressions, two subtypes were distinguished: with neurosis-like disorders (subtype 2.1) and with psychopathic-like disorders (subtype 2.2). The following significant differences between different types of YHED and comparison groups were revealed: on the scale «Copying», «Simultaneity « and points when reproducing the Rey-Osterritz figure (p=0.049, p=0.024 and p=0.043); performing the second series in the Digit Span (p=0.022); in the switching test (p=0.004) and the number of errors (p=0.046) in the Color-Word Interference Test; «expansion of the utterance program» when solving arithmetic problems (p=0.012). The total number of patterns in the «Visual Fluency» test and the execution time of the «Encryption» method were significantly lower in the YHED group (p=0.049 and p=0.046).

CONCLUSION

Patients with YCED show signs of neurocognitive dysfunction. The patients of supplementary and unitary types of YCED demonstrate the differences in the neurocognitive profile. The revealed peculiarities show the perspective of YCED research and typification of chronic depression in adolescence due to the differences in the neurocognitive profile.