Neuropsychopharmacology and the Affective Disorders

DRUGS that are clinically effective in the treatment of the affective disorders — depressions and manias — have also been found to be important tools for research in psychiatry during the past decade.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Since these disorders, particularly the depressions, represent a heterogeneous collection of entities, their differential diagnosis and classification have occasioned a long standing controversy.18 , 19 A discussion of the diagnosis and classifications of the affective disorders is necessary, however, if the action of the agents developed to treat them is to be understood.Diagnosis and Classifications of the Affective DisordersThe term "depression" as it is commonly used in . . .