While considerable empirical and theoretical attention has been focused upon the question of life events and the onset of endogenous and nonendogenous depressions, relatively little attention has been devoted to the study of the course of endogenous and nonendogenous depression in relation to life events. The present article reviews the historical and theoretical context for such an approach to studying the endogenous-nonendogenous distinction and presents preliminary findings substantiating its utility. It was found that diverse types of life events preceding treatment entry significantly predicted the course of disorder for endogenous, but not nonendogenous, depressives over a nine-month period. The implications of these results for conceptualizing interactions between the social environment and depressive disorders are discussed, along with suggestions for future work on the topic.