What is depression? So how do you distinguish between clinical, “capital D” depression and the common old blues? For some people, the symptoms are obvious. But others manage to keep up their daily routine, not really knowing what’s wrong. To get a doctors’ diagnosis of clinical depression you have to have at least five of the following symptoms, including number one or number two, for at least two weeks: • Depressed mood (feeling sad or low). • Loss of interest or pleasure (in activities you normally enjoy). • Significant appetite or weight loss or gain. • Insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping too little or too much). • Psychomotor agitation or retardation (being restless and jittery, or alternatively, slower than usual). • Fatigue or loss of energy. • Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt. • Impaired thinking or concentration; indecisiveness. • Suicidal thoughts/thoughts of death. From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV) Types of depression Depression affects different people very differently. As a result, many psychiatrists now argue that it is helpful to understand depression not as a whole but as different sub-types. These sub-types can affect not only the symptoms a person has, but the type of treatment that is most likely to be effective. Common sub-types of depression include: Non-melancholic depression - This is the most common type of depression and is also called ‘reactive’ depression. It can occur in response to specific life events or it can be the consequence of ongoing life events that may affect someone’s self-esteem. Individuals with this type of depression are less likely to report psychotic symptoms – such as hallucinations – and don’t tend to suffer symptoms of melancholia – such as extreme lethargy and a complete inability to be cheered up. Melancholia depression - This kind of depression is primarily caused by biological factors, although episodes can be triggered by life events. Those suffering this type can display a profound lack of energy along with a significant mood disturbance, psychomotor changes (effecting concentration and movement), extreme lethargy – that is distinctly worse in the morning – and an inability to be cheered up or to respond to positive events. Psychotic depression - Another type of depression caused by biological factors, this type is dominated by profound mood and movement disturbance together with delusions and hallucinations. Depressive symptoms can also occur along with other mental disorders, especially bipolar disorder (which involves extreme ‘up’ moods as well as downs), anxiety, and schizophrenia
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:18:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015