Depression
...something or saddened when they fail a
test or lose something. When they are sad, some people say they are
'depressed', but the clinical depressions that are seen by doctors differ
from the low mood brought on by everyday setbacks. Psychiatrists see a
range of more severe mood disturbances and so find it easier to
distinguish these from the normal variations of mood seen in the
community. General practitioners (GP's) need to be sensitive enough to
distinguish emotional reactions to setbacks in life from anxiety
syndromes, somatisation and clinical depressions. The general idea is
that anxiety disorders, depressive episodes, somatisation and adjustment
reactions are all different entities, but in practice it is not always
that clear-cut. Major depression, as defined by psychiatrists, is
unfortunately relatively common. What is depression? The term "affect"
refers to one's mood or "spirits." "Affective disorder" refers to changes
in mood that occur during an episode of illness marked by extreme sadness
(depression) or excitement (mania) or both. Depression is a disorder of
affect. Affective disorders are predominantly disturbances of mood that
are severe in nature and persistent despite the influence of external
events. Depression is characterized by severe and persistent low mood,
which is often unresponsive to the efforts of friends and family to cheer
the sufferer up. Patients who suffer with repeated episodes of depression
have a Recurrent Depressive Disorder. Depressive episodes can be
classified into mild, moderate, and severe types, with or without
psychotic symptoms. To be classified as depression, an episode must last
more than two weeks. A condition where the mood is persistently low, but
does not quite fulfill all the criteria for a depressive episode, is
sometimes called "dysthymia." Community studies have found that...
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