Introduction In the previous chapter we considered depressive disorders and we now turn to bipolar disorders, another group of conditions in which depressive episodes are prominent. In bipolar disorder, however, the course is marked by at least one episode of mania or hypomania. Kraepelin (1921) brought mania and depression together as manic depressive psychosis, because he believed...

There is no general agreement about the best method of classifying depressive disorders. A number of approaches have been tried, based on the following:● presumed aetiology● symptomatic picture● course.Classification by presumed aetiologyHistorically, depressive disorders were sometimes classified into two kinds—those in which the symptoms were caused by factors within the individual, and...

  Introduction The next two chapters describe depressive disorders and bipolar disorder. These conditions are also called mood disorders because one of their main features is abnormality of mood. Nowadays the term is usually restricted to disorders in which this mood is depression or elation, but in the past some authors have included states of anxiety as well. In this book, anxiety...