Depressive disorders in the context of biographical and historical changes - Experiences within a psychiatric outpatient service

Objective Conditions of human life, the personal and professional biographies of our patients and the medical development are subjected to continuous change. These transformations imply significant influences on the modalities of psychiatric treatment. Methods Two cases of depressed patients born in 1905 and 1941, who were treated as inpatients for the first time in 1985 and 2004 and afterwards in the psychiatric outpatient department, are discussed against the background of their individual historical experience. Results Biographical knowledge about the changing conditions of patients' life facilitates an understanding of their individual concerns and therefore enhances their compliance. The fast change in medical frameworks implies the danger of neglect in the impact and meaning of biographical aspects for psychiatric therapy.