Depression: distress or disease? Some epidemiological considerations.
Surveys using clinical-type interviews have documented a high rate of depression among working-class women, and this is discussed in the light of a recent survey in an inner-city area. While women with caseness of depression contacting a psychiatrist did not differ in number of core depressive symptoms from those who did, they did in certain characteristics that would make them worrying for a general practitioner to deal with. It is concluded that there is a considerable overlap in the severity of depressive conditions between those seen by psychiatrists and those defined as cases in population surveys; any differences that do exist may relate more to the way symptoms are expressed than to the severity of the depressive disorder as such.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012923:Social Class; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications