Psychosocial factors and episode number in depression.

We studied the relationship between 2 types of psychosocial factors, life events and chronic stress, and the numerical order of the depressive episodes. The population studied consisted of 97 subjects suffering from major depressive disorder and 65 controls. Life events occurred with the first 2 depressive episodes with significantly higher frequency than with later episodes or with the control group. Patients in the third or later episode had no more life events than controls. No significant differences were apparent in the incidence of chronic stress in the different depressive episodes of the patient group or in the comparison of this group with controls. No second order interaction between life events and chronic stress was found.