[Trends in the classification of depressive states]

The evolution of the clinical concept of depression from the viewpoint of actual epidemiological data and classification systems is presented. The classification difficulties, due to the reference criteria and absence of some concordant data, which lead to the elaboration of some systematizations prevalently syndromic, are revealed. The uncertainty of the nosological framing of the depressive states is reflected in the diagnostic disagreements of the various doctrinaire orientations in psychiatry. Starting from the Kraepelinian nosological conception, the revision of the dichotomy endogenic-psychogenic or the systematization in primary and secondary depressions, the I.N.S.E.R.M., I.C.D. 9 and I.C.D.-10 (WHO), D.S.M. III and D.S.M.III-R classification are discussed.