Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T15:51:45.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Newcastle Chronic Depression Study

Patient Characteristics and Factors Associated with Chronicity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jan Scott ,
W. A. Barker  and
D. Eccleston
Jan Scott*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NEJ 4LP
W. A. Barker
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NEJ 4LP
D. Eccleston
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NEJ 4LP
*
Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Chronic depression is defined as “symptomatic non-recovery for a period of 2 or more years”. Chronic primary major depressives (n = 24) were compared retrospectively with a control group of primary major depressives (n = 20) who had recovered from their illness episode within 2 years. The former had a significantly higher familial loading for affective disorder and showed an increased incidence of independent undesirable life events during the 6 months prior to and 2 years after the onset of their illness. Female chronic depressives also had a significantly greater number of previous illness episodes and a more frequent history of thyroid dysfunction. Personality as measured on the EPQ, psychiatric problems arising as secondary complications of the depressive illness, and developmental object loss did not differentiate chronic from non-chronic depressives.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 1 , January 1988 , pp. 28 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © 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

Akiskal, H. S. (1982) Factors associated with incomplete recovery in primary depressive illness. journal of clinical psychiatry, 43, 266–271.Google ScholarPubMed
Akiskal, H. S., Bitar, A. H., Puzanthan, V. R., Rosenthal, T. L. & Parks, W. W. (1978) The nosological status of neurotic depression - a prospective three-to-four year follow-up examination in light of the primary-secondary and unipolar-bipolar dichotomies. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 756–766.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Akiskal, H. S., Bitar, A. H., Puzanthan, V. R., Rosenthal, T. L., Parks, W. W., King, D., Rosenthal, T., Robinson, D. & Scott-Strauss, A. (1981) Chronic depressions - Part I. Clinical and familial characteristics in 137 probands. Journal of Affeaive Disorders, 3, 297–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C., Endicott, J., Spitzer, R. L. & Winokur, G. (1977) The family history method using diagnostic criteria-reliability and validity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 1229–1235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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
Brown, G. W., Sklair, F., Harris, T. O. & Birley, J. L. T. (1973) Life events and psychiatric disorders. Part I (some methodological issues). Psychological Medicine, 3, 74–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassano, G. B., Maggini, C. & Akiskal, H. (1983) Short-term, subchronic and chronic sequelae of affective disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 6, 55–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chodoff, P. (1972) The depressive personality: a critical review. Archives of General Psychiatry, 27, 666–673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. B. Woodruff, R. A., Winokur, G. & Munoz, R. (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 57–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freyhan, F. A. (1978) Treatment resistant or untreatable? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 19, 97–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnstone, E. C., Owens, D. G. C., Crow, T. J., Colter, N., Lawton, C. A., Jagoe, R. & Kreel, L. (1986) Hypothyroidism as a correlate of lateral ventricular enlargement in manic-depressive and neurotic illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 317–321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendall, R. E. & DiScipio, W. J. (1968) Eysenck Personality Inventory scores for patients with depressive illnesses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 767–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraines, S. H. (1957) Mental Depressions and their Treatment. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lehmann, H. E. (1974) Therapy-resistant depression: a clinical classification. Pharmacopsychiatrica, 136, 146–153.Google Scholar
Lundquist, G. (1945) Prognosis and course of manic-depressive psychoses: a follow-up study of 319 first admissions. Acta Scandinavica Psychiatrica et Neurologica Supplement, 35, 1–96.Google Scholar
McCreadie, R. G., Wilson, A. O. A. & Burton, L. L. (1983) The Scottish survey of ‘new chronic’ in-patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 564–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melville, D. I., Hope, D., Bennison, D. & Barrowclough, B. (1985) Depression among men made involuntarily redundant. Psychological Medicine, 15, 789–794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrison, J., Winokur, G., Crowe, R. & Clancy, J. (1973) The Iowa 500: the first follow-up. Archives of General Psychiatry, 29, 678–682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paykel, E. S. (1979) Recent life events in the development of depressive disorders. In The Psychobiology of the Depressive Disorders - Implications for the Effects of Stress (ed. R. A. Depue). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. & Tanner, J. (1976) Life events, depressive relapse and maintainence treatment. Psychological Medicine, 6, 481–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez de Francisco, C. (1979) Therapy resistant depressions. International Pharmacopsychiatrica, 14, 71–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, E. & Guze, S. (1972) Classification of affective disorders -the primary-secondary, the endogenous-reactive and the neurotic-psychotic dichotomies. In Recent Advances in Psychobiology of the Depressive Illnesses (eds T. A. Williams, M. M. Katz & J. A. Shield). Washington DC: US Printing Office.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, M. M., Kasl, S. V. & Klerman, G. L. (1976) Follow-up of depressed women after maintainence treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 757–760.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Kasl, S. V., Klerman, G. L. & Klerman, G. L. (1977) The chronic depressive in the community: unrecognised and poorly treated. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 18, 523–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Kasl, S. V., Klerman, G. L., Klerman, G. L. & Akiskal, H. S. (1984) The role of psychotherapy in chronic depression: a proposal. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 25, 23–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winokur, G. & Morrison, J. (1973) The Iowa 500: follow-up of 225 depressives. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 543–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.