Depression Symptoms

Depression Symptoms -- Detailed Description


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



Depression is widely used, not only in psychopathology but also in economics, in meteorology, in life sciences and in several other areas of human exercise.

 

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.M. Maj, N. Sartorius: Depressive Disorders

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above citation describes the complexity of depression. Depression, a psychological term, includes reactive depression (response to a major life stressor or crisis) and clinical depression (see later). Read more about what is depression...

A lot of people today view depression as a part of their life experience, an unavoidable condition that everyone has to go through at least once in their lifetime, and consider it subject to self-cure by will power.

 

Reactive Depression

Reactive depression sometimes also called adjustment disorder with depressed mood. As the name implies, a reactive depression occurs in response to some specific and identifiable life stressor or crisis.

Reactive depression is used to categorize mild to moderate depression, following a stressful event. However, if depression symptoms last longer then six months then a diagnosis of clinical depression would be used.

 

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 sentence is 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 moderate depression?

Moderate depression, as you may think it, fits somewhere between mild and major depression. The characteristics of moderate depression tend to be more prominent and more enduring than those described for mild depression and are less severe and/or numerous than those experienced in major depression.

People with moderate depression may find that they have a reduced interest in normally pleasurable activities and simple things, require real effort or just get neglected. Moderate depression can cause serious difficulties with social, work and domestic activities, and if left untreated, may lead to major depression.

 

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 Symptoms

(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 (MDE) 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

  • Anhedonia—Loss of Interest

  • Cognitive Disturbances

  • Psychomotor Disturbances

  • Vegetative Symptoms

  • Anxiety Symptoms

 

Subtypes of Depressive Episode—Major Depression:

 

 

Other Depression Types


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