[Dimensions of the Hamilton Depression Scale. Factor analysis studies].

The results of factor analysis of HAMD are not unitary. Studying the stability in course and the independence of selection criteria for the population we rated two groups (n = 107, n = 98) of inpatients with HAMD; these groups differ in nosological selection criteria. We furthermore rated one group at different timepoints (before treatment and 3 weeks after). The one-factor-solution is the only stable one and the only one which is independent from selection criteria. In all groups the one-factor-solutions show a high similarity with other published solutions of the German version of HAMD. But there is no way to extract a general factor. Thus the ability of HAMD in judging the severity of depression is doubtful. Ways are discussed to circumvent this problem.