[Melancholia and neurotic depression].

The author considers the psychopathological distinction between endogenous and neurotic depression as one of differing psychodynamics. In so doing he embeds both illnesses within psychoanalytic theory while at the same time allowing a sharp differentiation. Even the premorbid personalities of patients with endogenous and neurotic depression are different. The personalities of those with endogenous depression bear a similarity to those with obsessional character and betray a pathological super-ego monopolized by defence mechanisms. The personalities of patients with neurotic depression show an oral-dependent structure characterised by a structural deficit of the ego functions and of an autonomous super-ego. These factors are responsible for the greatly differing pathodynamics found in these illnesses and point to different etiological factors in socialization.