Classification of depressive illness. Clinico-psychological correlates.

347 patients with primary depressive illness were studied. Patients were classified on the Newcastle Diagnostic Scale and their depression was rated on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS) and self-rated on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Clinical and personality factors were studied in relation to classification. Personality was measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Fould's Personality Deviance Scale, the Marke-Nyman Temperament Scale and the Crown-Crisp Experimental Index. The frequency distribution of the Newcastle scores of all 347 patients was unequivocally unimodal. Significant positive correlations were obtained between patients' Newcastle scores, age, and HRS scores but not with BDI scores. Patients with non-endogenous depression showed clinical and personality differences compared with those with endogenous depression, and with a group of bipolar depressives.