Depressive syndromes and the classification of patients

Abstract

SYNOPSIS The scores of 269 depressed patients on the Depressive Category-Type Scale were analysed. The distributions of component and total scores were found to be bimodal, indicating that most depressed patients can be divided into an endogenous group and another characterized by the presence of neurotic features and the absence of endogenous ones. These findings were discussed in relation to those of other investigators. The relationship between the differentiation of syndromes and the classification of patients into corresponding diagnostic groups was considered. Finally, it was suggested that it should be interesting to try to estimate, from published data, the correlation between endogenous and neurotic depression in the general population.