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Development of a Questionnaire-based Decision Rule for Classifying Depressed Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

I. Pilowsky
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
D. M. Boulton
Affiliation:
Basser Computing Department, School of Physics, University of Sydney

Extract

In a previous paper (Pilowsky, Levine and Boulton, 1969) the classification of a group of 200 patients on the basis of their responses to a depression questionnaire and certain other attributes was described. The classification was carried out by using a form of numerical taxonomy based on information theory (Wallace and Boulton, 1968). By this technique the 200 patients were grouped into three classes, labelled A, B and C. Class A was regarded as a mixed group of ‘reactive’ depressions, Class B corresponded to ‘endogenous' depression and Class C comprised a non-depressive group.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1970 

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References

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