Depression Symptoms

Depression, a word as a diagnostic and clinically meaningful term, has only a short history. No one has claimed fame for coining it and, whoever he was, might not feel justified in introducing it.

Depression is a term widely used, not only in psychopathology but also in economics, in meteorology, in life sciences and in several other areas of human exercise. In psychiatry, it has been used with variable meanings and over the years has gradually lost its initial value.

What does it mean depression?

All the varieties of emotional reactions to actual or anticipated loss, all feelings of distress and sorrow arising from the adversities and vicissitudes of life, have been associated with depression. The individual today views depression as a part of life experience, an unavoidable condition that everyone has to go through at least once in his or her lifetime, and considers it subject to self-cure by will power.

What does it mean clinical depression?

Clinical depression -- in contrast to the normal emotional responses to unwanted and stressful events --, is a mental disorder which, due to its severity, its tendency to recur and its high cost for the individual and for society, is a medically significant condition that needs to be diagnosed and properly treated.

The above sentences are a little bit difficult to understand. But depression is a really complex thing, thus the description of depression symptoms is complex, as well. Let's start with a rather simple scheme:

A simple presentation of depression symptoms

What are the symptoms of a mild depression?

• Feeling sad and low, and tired
• Restlessness or irritability
• Sleep problems - insomnia or sleeping to excess
• Worry
• Weepiness, crying at inappropriate times
• Difficulty in concentrating, and forming and carrying out plans and ideas.
• Lack of appetite and spirit

What are the symptoms of a serious, major depression?

• Deep feeling of sadness, despair, misery, gloom and blackness
• Loss of affection towards oneself and others, empty mood
• A sense of failure, self-criticism, feeling of unworthiness, even self-loathing
• Loss of interest in life, in former favorite activities, inability to take pleasure in life
• Decreased energy, fatigue, sluggish.
• Loss of sex drive
• Loss of self-esteem and confidence
• Altered appetite, usually a loss of appetite and weight (seldom overeating and weight gain)
• Weight fluctuation
• Lethargy, slovenliness, apathy
• Insomnia or sleeping for long periods as a means of escape
• Thoughts of death or suicide, even attempt of suicide.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF DEPRESSION

(This text is not easy to understand.)

Depression signifies an affective experience (mood state), a complaint (reported as a symptom) as well as a syndrome defined by operational criteria. As an affective experience of sadness, it is common to all humans; as a symptom, it is present in several mental and physical illnesses and, as a syndrome, it is associated with specific mental and physical disorders.

The prototype of the syndromal entity of depressive disorders is the depressive episode (DE) in ICD-10 and the corresponding major depressive episode (MD) in DSM-IV. In both systems, it serves as the qualifying yardstick for all the other forms of depression.

Classification of Depressive Disorders

Depressive Episode—Major Depression

Major symptoms:

• Depressed Mood (learn more...)
• Anhedonia—Loss of Interest
• Cognitive Disturbances
• Psychomotor Disturbances
• Vegetative Symptoms
• Anxiety Symptoms

Subtypes of Depressive Episode—Major Depression:

• Melancholia (Depression with Somatic Symptoms)
• Depression with Psychotic Symptoms
• Atypical Depression
• Recurrent Brief Depression (RBD)

Dysthymia (Read more ...)

Cyclothymia (Read more...)

Other Depressive Types

• Seasonal Depression (Read more...)
• Subsyndromal Depressive Symptoms (SSD)
• Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
• Depression and Menopause (Read more...)
• Depressive Personality Disorder (DPD)
• Postnatal Depressive Disorders (Read more)

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