Results from 121 patients with major depressive disorder followed-up at 6 months with a new comprehensive follow-up schedule, the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation (LIFE) indicate that: (1) Forty percent of patients had not recovered from the index episode 6 months after inclusion; (2) Of those patients who recovered, 19% relapsed into another RDC affective episode by the time of the 6-month follow-up, and an additional 24% developed some subsequent affective symptoms by that time; (3) Index episodes were relatively long, with a median duration of 25 weeks from onset to recovery for recovered patients, and 67 weeks from onset to follow-up for nonrecovered patients. (4) Duration of the index episode episode prior to entry is a statistically significant predictor of short-term outcome at 6 months, as increasing durations are associated with lower rates of recovery.