[Paradoxes in the clinical aspects of depression (author's transl)]

An attempt is made to present the contradictions in the clinical picture of depression as "paradoxes". 12 of these are briefly reported. In the author's opinion, they are, on the one hand, the sequel to a sudden lowering of bio-energetic potential of the patient and on the other, caused by the maintained formal logic of his consciousness. Some of these paradoxes, although again rooted in the behavior of the patient, are chiefly seen as such in the consciousness of the doctor because the doctor is accustomed to having a different image of the depressed patient. The opinion is expressed that pathophysiological phase symptoms in the activity of the cerebral cortex (in the Pavlovian sense) are responsible for the nature of these paradoxes which are, to a certain extent, understandable psychologically.