Classification of Depressed Patients: A Cluster Analysis Derived Grouping

In recent years there has been a considerable interest in the classification of depressed patients, and in the use of multivariate statistical techniques as tools for classifying, with the hope of either validating traditional classifications or suggesting useful new ones. One technique employed for this purpose has been factor analysis. A number of studies have used this method to explore the overlapping endogenous-reactive or psychotic-neurotic dichotomies. Most have demonstrated a factor or factors reflecting such a dimension which appears to form a consistent, systematic source of variance in ratings of depressed patients (1, 5, 11, 15, 16, 18, 26, 31, 33).