LONG-TERM COURSE AND CHRONICITY IN DEPRES SION - FINDINGS FROM A 6-YEAR FOLLOW-UP

The course of depressive symptoms for 44 patients who were treated at the depression ward of a state mental hospital was followed over 6 yea rs. 21 % of the patients had no or only minimal depressive symptoms ov er the time, another 11 % showed depressive symptoms only in the frist year after the indexepisode. 11 % of the patients had a partial remis sion. 32 % showed an episodic course, 57 % of them relapsed in the fir st year. 9 % of the patients experienced a chronic course with major d epressive symptoms in more than half of the time. 9 % of the patients committed suicide.