[Concepts of depressive patients regarding the cause of their disease].

In 60 patients suffering from either neurotic or endogenous depression (according to ICD-9), the aetiological concepts regarding their illness were studied by means of content analysis of answers to an interview question. Most patients had multifactorial aetiological concepts. Psychosocial concepts were more frequent than biological ones; this bias, however, was less pronounced in endogenous depressives (and, within this group, in bipolar vs. unipolar patients) than in neurotic depressives. The latter stressed triggering events as causes of illness, whereas for endogenous depressives, dispositions were more important. A positive expectancy of being able to influence the illness correlated with an aetiological model which implied triggering as well as predisposing factors.