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Cluster Analysis and the Classification of Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Nancy C. Andreasen ,
William M. Grove  and
Ralph Maurer
Nancy C. Andreasen
Affiliation:
University of Iowa, College of Medicine, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
William M. Grove
Affiliation:
University of Iowa, College of Medicine, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
Ralph Maurer
Affiliation:
University of Iowa, College of Medicine, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
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Extract

During recent years there has been considerable controversy concerning the classification of depressive disorders. Investigators disagree as to whether depressive disorders are a single phenomenon with varying degrees of severity or are a group of two or more discrete illnesses with differing courses, prognoses, responses to treatment, familial backgrounds, aetiologies, and clinical pictures (Eysenck, 1970; Kendell, 1976; Foulds and Bedford, 1976; Andreasen and Winokur, 1979). They also disagree about the boundaries between depressive disorders and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and normality (Roth et al, 1972; Kay et al, 1976; Kendell and Gourlay, 1970a and b; Tsuang et al, 1976). There is no consensus as to what constitutes adequate validation of a nosological class; a variety of independent validators have been proposed, including genetic factors, outcome, responses to treatment, and neurochemical or neurophysiological markers (Guze, 1978; Blashfield and Draguns, 1976; Kupfer et al, 1975; Reider and Gershon, 1978).

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 137 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 256 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1980 

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