Abstract
Major Depression: Does a Gender-Based Down-Rating of Suicide Risk Challenge its Diagnostic Validity?
Blair-West G W~~Mellsop G W
This paper summarizes the authors’ research that disproved the accepted lifetime suicide risk in major depression. It then explores the pivotal issue of gender in understanding suicide risk in depression & raises questions as to whether this is adequately reflected in the current diagnostic construct of this condition. Among sufferers of major depression, men & those who have been hospitalized have a much greater risk of suicide. These findings are sensitive to diagnostic inclusivity which raises the question as to whether women with a depressive illness are more likely to be correctly identified than male sufferers? An argument is made for a gender-based nosological revision of the diagnostic criteria. (22 refs.)