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The Classification and Treatment of Dysthymia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

D. G. M. Murphy*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London, currently Visiting Associate, Laboratory of Neurosciences, Building 10, Room 6c414, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA

Extract

The diagnostic concept and classification of chronic depressions has long been a matter of controversy. Kraepelin (1921) considered chronic depression to be a ‘rudiment’ of fully developed manic-depressive insanity, and this view was shared by Slater & Roth (1969), who cited occasional dramatic improvement in patients with neurasthenic disorder when they received convulsive therapy.

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Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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