The biochemical discrimination of subtypes of depressive disorders: an outline of our studies on norepinephrine metabolism and psychoactive drugs in the endogenous depressions since 1967.

The possibility that subtypes of depressive disorders might be characterized by differences in catecholamine metabolism was discussed in our initial 1967 Anna-Monika prize-paper- "Norepinephrine Metabolism and Psychoactive Drugs in the Endogenous Depressions" (36). During the intervening years, our research has continued in the directions outlined in that paper. In the present paper, findings from selected aspects of our work will be summarized.