Depressed mood and major depressive episodes: differential responsiveness to psychosocial experiences

In a sample of 64 remitted and discharged depressed in-patients the structure and quality of their social environment was examined in relation to the subsequent development of depressive symptoms. It is shown that mood-related symptoms were influenced by psychosocial factors, whereas vegetative and non-specific symptoms were not. Since the latter are rather more heavily weighted in the DSM-III criteria for Major Depressive Episode than in typical symptom sum scores, psychosocial variables did not predict DSM-III-defined clinical relapses. Possible implications for conceptualizing depressive disorders are discussed.