Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T01:50:33.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Concepts of Mild Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

R. P. Snaith
R. P. Snaith*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, St James's University Hospital, Beckett Street, Leeds LS9 7TF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The term ‘depression’ is now used to cover a wider range of emotional disturbances than was the case when psychiatrists confined their attention to patients referred to psychiatric hospitals. There is considerable confusion about the variety of meanings and the loose terminology leads to claims and counter-claims about aetiology and treatment. The current classificatory systems and the variety of rating scales do not clarify issues concerning appropriate management. The guidelines for a clearer definition of a biogenic form of the concept of depression, which is likely to respond to antidepressant drug therapy, would be of considerable value to psychiatrists, non-psychiatric physicians and others who try to treat or help people in states of disordered emotion. Such guidelines are proposed.

Type
Point of View
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 150 , Issue 3 , March 1987 , pp. 387 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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 Pschiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. Washington DC American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Andreason, N. C. (1982) Concepts and classification of depression. In: Handbook Of Affective Disorders (ed. E. S. Paykel) Edinburgh and London: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Ascher, E. (1952) A criticism of the concept of neurotic depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 108, 901–908.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. & Erbaugh, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bevan-Lewis, W. (1899) Textbook of Mental Diseases. London: Charles Griffin and Co.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J. & Fairburn, C. G. (1986) The depressive symptoms of bulimia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 268–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finlay-Jones, R., Brown, G. W., Duncan-Jones, P., Harris, T., Murphy, E. & Prudo, R. (1980) Depression and anxiety in the community: replicating the diagnosis of a case. Psychological Medicine, 10, 445–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–296.Google Scholar
Kathol, R. G. & Petty, F. (1981) Relationship of depression to medical illness. Journal of Affective Disorders, 3, 111–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendell, R. E. (1969) The continuum model of depressive illness. Proceedings of The Royal Society of Medicine, 62, 335–339.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1976) The classification of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 15–28.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1982) The choice of diagnostic criteria for biological research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1334–1339.Google Scholar
Klein, D. F. (1974) Endogenomorphic depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 31, 447–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klerman, G. L., Endicott, , Jean, , Spitzer, R. & Hirschfeld, R. M. A. (1979) Neurotic depression: A systematic analysis of multiple criteria and meanings. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 57–61.Google ScholarPubMed
Kraupl Taylor, F. (1966) Psychopathology: its Causes and Symptoms. London: Butterworth.Google Scholar
Kutner, N. G., Fair, P. L. & Kutner, M. H. (1985) Assessing depression and anxiety in chronic dialysis patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 29, 23–31.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. J. (1934) Melancholia: a historical review. The Journal of Mental Science, 80, 1–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayou, R. (1984) Sick role, illness behaviour and coping. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 320–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer, A. (1905) Discussant in: The classification of melancholias. Journal of Nervous & Mental Diseases, 32, 112–117.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. A. & Asberg, M. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 382–389.Google Scholar
Richmond, A. & Barry, A. (1985) More and more is less and less: the myth of massive psychiatric need. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 164–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sashidharan, S. P. (1985) Definitions of psychiatric syndromes- comparison in hospital patients and general population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 547–551.Google Scholar
Snaith, R. P. (1981) Rating Scales. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 512–514.Google Scholar
Stewart, M. A., Drake, F., Winokur, G. (1965) Depression among medically ill patients. Diseases of The Nervous System, 26, 479–485.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Paykel, E. S. (1971) The Depressed Woman: A Study In Social Relationships. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification In Accordance With The Ninth Revision Of The International Classification Of Diseases. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Zigmond, A. S. & Snaith, R. P. (1983) The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361–370.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K. (1965) A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 63–70.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.