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Can We Predict the Persistence of Depression?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jan Scott ,
Donald Eccleston  and
Richard Boys
Jan Scott*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP
Donald Eccleston
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary
Richard Boys
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Fifty-five patients with primary major depression were followed up prospectively from time of onset of the index illness episode until recovery. The course of depression in hospital-treated patients was protracted, with a median length of episode of one year. Two factors significantly predicted persistence of symptoms: interval between onset and receipt of treatment, and premorbid neuroticism, which accounted for 55% of the variance in length of episode.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 5 , November 1992 , pp. 633 - 637
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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