Clinical validity of major depression-endogenous subtype in adolescent patients

This paper explored the validity of the distinction between endogenous and nonendogenous forms of major depression in a clinical sample of adolescents, average age 13.6 years. The criteria used to establish this distinction were features of the disorder itself and the external criteria of demography, family history and psychosocial stressors. Endogenous subjects had a more severe form of depressive disorder than nonendogenous subjects. However, there were no significant differences between the depressed groups on any of the external criteria. The distinction between endogenous and nonendogenous major depression in early and mid-adolescence appears therefore to be quantitative rather than qualitative.