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J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 46(9); 2003 > Article
Lee: Diagnosis and Psychotherapy of Depressive Disorders

Abstract

Depressive disorders are very common and serious illness in many psychiatric practices. We are accustomed to normal depression in everyday life, but the pathologically depressive conditions are regarded as a seriously urgent illness by the majority of psychiatrists because of the high risk of suicidal or self-destructive behaviors. Diagnosis of depressive disorders is not a hard task with the exception of the cases of masked depression and secondary depression. Nonetheless we have experienced many unpredictable psychiatric accidents during the course of treatment for the depressives. Generally speaking, major depression shows a good response to antideressants, but a chronic course is the rule in dysthymic condition, and consequently we need psychothereutic intervention. Although psychiatry today is biologically-oriented, the necessity for psychotherapy is now accepted in practice. Bio-psycho-social model in modern psychiatry helps to understand the depressives with the multi-modal therapeutic approaches. Presumably I think we have to practice psychotherapy for the depressives at all times even when the biological cause of depression is clear. Depression is like a mixture of psycholological and biological phenomena.

References

2. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2000;4th ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association. 345-428. Text Revision.

3. Hamilton M. Frequency of symptoms in melancholia (depressive illness). British Journal of Psychiatry 1989;154:201-206.

4. Novalis PN, Rojcewicz SJ, Peele R. Clinical Manual of Supportive Psychotherapy 1993;Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press. 189-201.

5. Sadock BJ, Sadock VA. Synopsis of Psychiatry 2003;9th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 534-565.

6. Sims A. Symptoms in the Mind: An Introduction to Descriptive Psychopathology 1995;London: WB Saunders.

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