Severity, course trajectory, and within‐person variability of individual symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder

Abstract

Depression shows a large heterogeneity of symptoms between and within persons over time. However, most outcome studies have assessed depression as a single underlying latent construct, using the sum score on psychometric scales as an indicator for severity. This study assesses longitudinal symptom‐specific trajectories and within‐person variability of major depressive disorder over a 9‐year period.