Classifying Depression: Should Paradigms Lost Be Regained?

Classification of the depressive disorders has long been controversial. The dominant current model is unitarian, with disorders largely distinguished on the basis of severity. Both the unitarian and the contrasting binarian views (of two principal types) have proved to be unsatisfactory. The binarian model's procrustean requirements are too inflexible to address the evident heterogeneity contributed to by clinical manifestations and underlying...