On the basis of the intensive psychotherapy of about 40 depressed patients over the course of two decades, the authors describe three premorbid types of depressive personality: 1) one based on a "dominant other" relationship, 2) one based on a "dominant goal," and 3) one that is a form of character structure or personality disorder. They also describe typical childhood experiences of depressive adults and discuss their theory of the nature of depression as a human experience. They characterize depression as a limitation of alternate ways of thinking and as self-inhibition from new experiences.