Depression: The Shroud of Heterogeneity
Abstract
Over the past several decades, depression has emerged as a major public health problem. Yet depression has not always represented such a prominent psychiatric condition, and the term depression has harbored different meanings over time. One widely agreed upon way of explaining such variation in what depression implies has been to describe depression as being heterogeneous. In the present article, depression is examined in relation to different types of heterogeneity, particularly with regard to the concept of a syndrome. The consequences of various meanings of heterogeneity for understanding the nature of depression are then explored. Finally, we speculate on the implications for the future of depression research and practice.
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The heterogeneity of depression is evident from the multiple ways in which symptoms combine to produce a variety of clinical phenotypes.
“The heterogeneity is evident, however, from the multiple ways in which symptoms combine to produce a variety of clinical phenotypes. 6”
From Time for united action on depression: a Lancet–World Psychiatric Association Commission (2022) · cites this paper as [6]
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- Authors
- Monroe, S. M., & Anderson, S. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-06
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 227-231
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2210298535
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 30.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- depression, depression heterogeneity, history of depression, psychiatric classification
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