A cross-cultural comparative study of patterns of depression in a hospital-based population

In a study of Catego depressive syndromes, using the Syndrome Check List and the Catego programme, no significant differences in depression symptomatology frequencies were found in nine different cultural groups of patients admitted to a London hospital. There were some differences in the frequencies of the hospital diagnoses of depression, whereas the Catego diagnoses showed greater similarity. It is argued that symptoms characteristic of depression in the West are common to all cultures and will become apparent on enquiry in conjunction with other culturally determined symptoms.