Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T23:21:29.197Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Classification of the Depressions

Contemporary Confusion Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Anne Farmer*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff CF4 4XN
Peter McGuffin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff CF4 4XN
*
Correspondence

Extract

It is 13 years since Kendell (1976) reviewed the ‘contemporary confusion’ surrounding the classification of depression. Reconsideration of this issue is now timely, especially in light of the development of the new classifications of affective disorder included in DSM–III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980), the revised version, DSM–III–R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987), and the forthcoming ICD–10 (World Health Organization, 1988). Recent activities in neurobiological, genetic and social research also bear importantly on our concepts of the aetiology of depression.

Type
Annotation
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd end, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C., Scheftner, W., Reich, T., et al (1986) The validation of the concept of endogenous depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 246255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bebbington, P. E., Brugha, T., MacCarthy, B., et al (1988) The Camberwell Collaborative Depression Study: depressed probands: adversity and the form of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 754765.Google Scholar
Blinder, M. G. (1966) The pragmatic classification of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 259269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bridgman, P. W. (1927) The Logic of Modern Physics. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Buchsbaum, M. S., Wu, J., Delisi, L. E., et al (1986) Frontal cortex and basal ganglia metabolic rates assessed by positron emission tomography with F-deoxyglucose in affective illness. Journal of Affective Disorders, 10, 137152.Google Scholar
Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, A. E., McGuffin, P. & Spitznagel, E. L. (1983) Heterogeneity in schizophrenia: a cluster analytic approach. Psychiatry Research, 8, 112.Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. B., et al (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 5767.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. & Bedford, A. (1975) Hierarchy of classes of personal illness. Psychological Medicine, 5, 181192.Google Scholar
Gershon, E. S., Hamovit, J., Guroff, J. J., et al (1982) A family study of schizoaffective bipolar I, bipolar II, unipolar and normal control probands. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 11571167.Google Scholar
Halbreich, V., Grunhaus, L. & Ben-David, M. (1979) 24 hour rhythm of prolactin in depressive patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 11831186.Google Scholar
Hempel, C. G. (1961) Introduction to problems of taxonomy. In Field Studies in the Mental Disorders (ed. Zubin, J.). New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Jablensky, A. (1988) Methodological issues in psychiatric classification. British Journal of Psychiatry (suppl. 1), 152, 1520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, P. R., Sellman, J. D., Donald, R. A., et al (1988) The unipolar-bipolar depressive dichotomy of the relationship between afternoon prolactin and Cortisol levels. Journal of Affective Disorders, 14, 189195.Google Scholar
Kafka, M. S., Nurnberger, J. I., Siever, L., et al (1986) 2 adrenergic receptor function in patients with unipolar and bipolar affective disorders. Journal of Affective Disorders, 10, 163169.Google Scholar
Katschnig, H. & Berner, P. (1983) The poly-diagnostic approach in psychiatric research. In World Health Organization: Proceedings of the International Conference on Diagnosis and Classification of Mental Disorders and Alcohol and Drug Related Problems. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1975) The Role of Diagnosis in Psychiatry. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1976) The classification of depressions: a review of contemporary confusion. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 1528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonhard, K. (1959) Aufteilung der Endogen Psychoses (2nd edn). Berlin: Akademic Verlag.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. J. (1934) Melancholia: a clinical survey of depressive states. Journal of Mental Science, 80, 277378.Google Scholar
Linnoila, M., Whorton, A. R., Rubinon, D. R., et al (1983) C.S.F. prostaglandin levels in depressed and schizophrenic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 405406.Google Scholar
McGuffin, P. (1988) Major genes for major affective disorder? British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 591596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGuffin, P., Farmer, A. E., Gottesman, I. I., et al (1984) Twin concordance for operationally defined schizophrenia: confirmation of familiality and heritability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 541545.Google Scholar
McGuffin, P., Katz, R., Aldrich, J., et al (1988a) The Camberwell Collaborative Depression Study: investigation of family members. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 766774.Google Scholar
McGuffin, P., Katz, R., & Bebbington, P. E. (19886) The Camberwell Collaborative Depression Study: depression and adversity in the relatives of depressed probands. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 775782.Google Scholar
Muscettola, G., Potter, W. Z., Pickar, D., et al (1984) Urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl-glycol plus major affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 337342.Google Scholar
Parker, G., Kiloh, L. & Hayward, L. (1988) Parental representation of neurotic and endogenous depressives. Journal of Affective Disorders, 13, 7583.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1971) Classification of depressed patients: a cluster analysis derived grouping. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 275288.Google Scholar
Phelps, M. E., Mazziotta, J. C., Baxter, L., et al (1984) Positron emission tomographic study of affective disorders: problems and strategies. Annals of Neurology (suppl.), 15, S149S156.Google Scholar
Robins, E. & Guze, S. B. (1970) Establishment of diagnostic validity in psychiatric illness: its application to schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 983987.Google Scholar
Roy, A., Pickar, D., Linnoila, M., et al (1985) Plasma norepinephrine levels in affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 11811185.Google Scholar
Sartorius, N. (1988) International perspectives of psychiatric classification. British Journal of Psychiatry (suppl. 2), 152, 914.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1975) Research Diagnostic Criteria Instrument No. 58. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Stengel, E. (1959) Classification of mental disorders. Bulletin of the WHO, 21, 601663.Google Scholar
Tsuang, M. T., Faraone, S. V. & Fleming, J. A. (1985) Familial transmission of major affective disorders. Is there evidence supporting the distinction between unipolar and bipolar disorders? British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 268274.Google Scholar
Wing, J., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. & Sturt, E. (1978) The PSE–ID–catego System. Supplementary Manual, Mimeograph. London: MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J., Granholm, E., Butters, N., et al (1987) Verbal memory deficits associated with major affective disorders: a comparison of unipolar and bipolar patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 13, 8392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1974) Glossary of Mental Disorders and Guide to their Classification for Use in Conjunction with the International Classification of Diseases, 8th Revision (ICD–8). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the 9th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1988) International Classification of Diseases. 10th edition. Mental, Behavioral and Developmental Disorders. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Young, M. A., Scheftner, W. A., Klerman, G. L., et al (1986) The endogenous subtype of depression: a study of its internal contract validity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 257268.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.