Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

The heterogeneity of the depressive syndrome: when numbers get serious
SD Østergaard, SOW Jensen, P Bech

There has been a long-standing and fierce debate about whether major depression should be considered a single diagnostic entity or be split into multiple subtypes. In the Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica December issue, Østergaard and colleagues take a fresh look at this debate. The authors first explicitly calculate the number of symptom combinations that can result in a DSM-IV diagnosis of major depression (about 1500) and then examine how recent clinical effectiveness and gene-environment interaction studies highlight the problems with the single diagnostic approach utilized in the DSM-IV.

In an accompanying “Invited Comment,” Ghaemi and Vöhringer respond to the points raised by Østergaard and colleagues and place the debate in a historical perspective. These pieces are thought provoking and well worth reading.

The heterogeneity of depression: an old debate renewed
SN Ghaemi, PA Vöhringer

Srijan Sen, Genetics Field Editor
New Haven, USA

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