Abstract
Of 192 outpatients diagnosed as suffering from major depression by DSM-IIIR at Showa University Hospital between 1979 to 1985, 75 cases diagnosed as unipolar depression during initial diagnosis, were chosen as the subject of this study. The subjects were divided into two groups, the young included 28 cases younger than 45 years, and the involutional group included 47 cases 45 years or older. The profile of the involutional group was observed among females who tended to have obsessive personalities, and contracted the disease under stress caused by a“radically pressing situation”. The involutional depression was relatively mild, showing strong anxiety and agitatation, sleep disorder, and hypochondriasis while depersonalization and suicidal thoughts were minimal. The involutional group tended to be initially hospitalized, and to repeat recrudescence after dehospitalization. The involutional group has many characteristics and features in common with the young group, so it could hardly be considered an independ clinicalentity. However, the involutional group had depression with psychopathological characteristics similar to those described by Tellenbach, whereas the young group had depression with the characteristics simillar to the endogenous psychosis described by Kraepelin. In the present report, these two classical research subjects could have been linked.
