title: Is depression a chronic mental illness?
abstract: Over the past few decades, theory and research on depression have increasingly             focused on the recurrent and chronic nature of the disorder. These recurrent and chronic             forms of depression are extremely important to study, as they may account for the bulk             of the burden associated with the disorder. Paradoxically, however, research focusing on             depression as a recurrent condition has generally failed to reveal any useful early             indicators of risk for recurrence. We suggest that this present impasse is due to the             lack of recognition that depression can also be an acute, time-limited condition. We             argue that individuals with acute, single lifetime episodes of depression have been             systematically eclipsed from the research agenda, thereby effectively preventing the             discovery of factors that may predict who, after experiencing a first lifetime episode             of depression, goes on to have a recurrent or chronic clinical course. Greater awareness             of the high prevalence of people with a single lifetime episode of depression, and the             development of research designs that identify these individuals and allow comparisons             with those who have recurrent forms of the disorder, could yield substantial gains in             understanding the lifetime pathology of this devastating mental illness.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN,                 USA.
authors: S M
authors: SM
authors: Monroe
authors: K L
authors: KL
authors: Harkness
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D006801:Humans; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors