Loss events preceding endogenous and neurotic depressions

Ninety unipolar endogenous depressives and 38 neurotic depressives with distinct depressive episodes were questioned concerning deaths of parents, siblings, children or partners, and separation from children (leaving the parental home) or from important partners. The age of the patients at the time of the event was compared with their age during the depressive episodes. The results indicate that significantly more neurotic depressives than endogenous depressives had experienced the loss of a close person in the year before a depression. When the loss experiences were divided up, however, it became clear that the difference was due only to separations, and in particular to separations from an important partner.