PREDICTORS OF SEVERITY OF DEPRESSION ON HAMILTON'S RATING SCALE

An attempt was made to identify the predictors of the severity of depression as measured by Hamilton's Rating Scale for depression. The analysis was on the data of 48 patients with a functional depressive illness admitted to a mental hospital in connection with a project on Dexamethasone suppression test. A broadly conceived ‘endogeneity’ score was the only variable that explained a substantial part of the variance in the Hamilton's scores of depression. It was concluded that the score on the Hamilton's Rating Scale for depression indexes severity of depression when severity is conceived with the accent on endogenous features.