The purpose of the study is to investigate whether patients with brief depressive periods together with other fluctuating psychiatric symptoms, have this condition due to epilepsy or an other organic brain disorder.

A limited number of patients admitted to psychiatric acute wards or Psychiatric Intensive Care Units are admitted with a fluctuating array of psychiatric symptoms including brief depressive episodes. These patients do not fit into the present diagnostic systems due to short duration of affective symptoms and the fluctuating arrays of other symptoms. Case histories indicate that these patients have psychiatric conditions due to epilepsy or organic brain dysfunctions.

In the study acutely admitted patients filling criteria for two recent DSM-4 axis 1 diagnoses (one is a brief depressive period) during the last two weeks are compared to age- and sex-matched patients acutely admitted with a major depressive disorder. The patients are rated with a number of rating scales at admittance, day 5, after two weeks and three months. EEG and QEEG are taken three times the first week. MRI, drug screening and blood screening of medication-concentrations are taken.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Acutely admitted psychiatric patients who have at different times the last 2 weeks filled criteria for at least two new DSM-4 Axis 1 psychiatric diagnoses. One of them has to be a depressive episode (MADRS>20)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients not speaking Norwegian or English.
• Patients not willing to participate.
• Patients with dementia or mental retardation to an extensive degree.

Study and control groups both from a psychiatric acute ward. The patients are acutely admitted suffering from different types of depressive symptoms.