Faculty Bibliography

Reviews data, through the centuries, on the nature and differentiation of affective disorders. The views discussed are those of Hippocrates, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, Theophile Bonet, Jean-Pierre Falret, Emil Kraepelin, Karl Abraham, Freud, Rado, and Melanie Klein. It is noted that involutional melancholia is a mood disorder of the declining years that produces agitation, self-condemnation and nihilism, often accompanied by morbid interest in or delusions about the body. Epidemiology, differential diagnosis, causes, clinical description, treatment, and prognosis of involutional melancholia are discussed. Manic-depressive illness is characterized by periods of overactive elation or of morbid depression. Its epidemiology, causes, diagnostic categories, differential diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment are described. (15 ref.)