Irving Bieber's remarks clarifying his views on masochism and depression are interesting and helpful. With respect to my article, I did not actually suggest that the symptoms of masochism and depression are interchangeable.

“A third major point I elaborate on below is the similarity between the psychodynamic aspects of masochism and depression. These two entities should not be considered identical, however. I suggest that all characterological masochists are indeed depressives, but that all depressives are not characterological masochists.”

I discussed the history of ideas about the two entities and pointed out that during the years when most of the influential psychoanalytic articles on masochism were written, childhood depression was underdiagnosed. Advances in descriptive psychiatry led to increased understanding of the relationship between psychodynamics and psychopathology in this area.