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Several studies have associated depressive disorders and treatment response to disturbances in functional brain connectivity. To further delineate subtypes of major depression, researchers used diffusion-weighted MRI to study brain white-matter integrity in the internal capsule among 22 depressed patients with melancholia, 23 nonmelancholic depressed patients, and 29 matched healthy controls (range of mean ages, 38–44), all of whom underwent neuropsychological testing.
Melancholia was ascertained by the presence of psychomotor retardation and anhedonia plus several criteria for vegetative symptoms, medication responsiveness, and normal personality functioning. Compared with controls, patients with melancholia (but not those with nonmelanchol…