The dexamethasone suppression test in psychiatry.

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) for depression (melancholia) has been the focus of considerable recent interest because of claims that it may be a sensitive and specific biological marker for melancholia. When the data from four separate studies were combined, 52% of our patients with major depression were DST nonsuppressors. However, nonsuppression was also observed in 11% of manic patients, 20% of schizophrenic patients and 15% of nondepressed abstinent alcoholics. These results, in conjunction with other reports, suggest that the specificity of the test is not sufficiently high to make it a satisfactory general diagnostic test.