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The classification of depression: are we still confused?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

James Cole ,
Peter McGuffin  and
Anne E. Farmer
James Cole*
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Box PO80, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
Peter McGuffin
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Box PO80, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
Anne E. Farmer
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Box PO80, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
*
James Cole, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Box PO80, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, JK. Email: james.cole@iop.kcl.ac.uk
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Summary

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Recent developments in the classification of major depressive disorder are reviewed in light of the predictions made by Kendell in the 1970s. Particularly, the institution of operational diagnoses along with the contentious issues of subdividing major depressive disorder and its characterisation on a dimensional as opposed to a categorical scale.

Type
Editorials
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 192 , Issue 2 , February 2008 , pp. 83 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2008 

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