The British Journal of Psychiatry (2008) 192: 83-85. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.039826
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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EDITORIALS

The classification of depression: are we still confused?

James Cole, MSc, Peter McGuffin, FRCPsych and Anne E. Farmer, FRCPsych

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

Correspondence: James Cole, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Box PO80, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: james.cole{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

The authors are employed by the Medical Research Council at the Social, Genetics, and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, part of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK.

James Cole (pictured) is an experimental psychology graduate from the University of Bristol. He is currently studying for his PhD at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre, focusing on the use of magnetic resonance imaging to identify genetic and neuroanatomical markers for depression. Peter McGuffin was Chair of Psychological Medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine from 1987 to 1998, Director of the MRC SGDP Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry 1998–2006, and became Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry and Head of School in January 2007. His research interests include the pharmacogenomics of mood disorders. Since 1998 Anne Farmer has been Professor of Psychiatric Nosology at the Institute of Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Affective Disorders Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. Formerly, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Wales College of Medicine, her academic interests include gene and environmental risk factors for affective disorders.

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.


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