Depression and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) in patients with non-specific somatic complaints. Atypical depression and DST.

Non-suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical activity on the dexamethasone suppression test was found in 27/115 patients who were referred to consulting psychiatrists in the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic of Turku University Central Hospital and in the Rehabilitation Research Centre because of unspecific chronic pain complaints. Depressive symptoms in the patients were identified by the Research Diagnostic Criteria for definite or probable endogenous and non-endogenous depressive disorders. The cortisol levels after dexamethasone suppression were significantly higher in endogenous than in non-endogenous patients and it uncovered masked depression in some complex patients. However, nonsuppression in the dexamethasone suppression test was not specifically associated with the pain-prone disorder, which was further characterized by the factor models of the Hamilton Depression Scale.