The Effect of Obsessions on Depressive Psychosis

The occurrence of obsessions in the course of depression was first noted by Prichard (1835), Esquirol (1838) and Marc (1840). The first series (22 cases) was described by Heilbronner (1912), who agreed with Scheule (1888) that in some cases at least the depression was the primary illness and not merely a secondary result of the obsessions. Further small series were reported by Vurpas and Corman (1933)—27 cases, Lion (1942)—16 cases, and Ingram (1961)—10 cases. Stengel (1945) reported 4 cases and reviewed the literature fully. None of these series are controlled by a parallel series of depressives without obsessions. Lewis (1934) described depressives both with and without obsessions, but did not compare them.