The British Journal of Psychiatry 150: 30-42 (1987)
© 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Life events, vulnerability and onset of depression: some refinements

GW Brown, A Bifulco and TO Harris
Department of Social Policy and Social Science, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College University of London.

A prospective study of 400 largely working-class women with children living at home has once again demonstrated the major importance of long- term severe threatening life events in provoking caseness of depression. However, it again shows that only about one out of five women experiencing such an event go on to develop depression at a case level. This paper demonstrates that more sensitive characterisation of severe events can greatly increase the size of this association. This is done both by improving the description of the event itself and by taking into account various ways in which the event can 'match' characteristics of the women present at the first interview, well before the occurrence of the event or any onset of depression.

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