Symptoms
The clinical depression (also known as major depressive disorder) is a psychiaric disorder with symptoms that last two weeks or more. Different from a common depression where a person is having a low mood, feeling sad, the clinical depression can seriously affect a person’s life, his ability to work, study, eat, sleep or even enjoying his hobbies.
A person suffering from clinical depression will feel empty, “drained” of life, full of pessimism. They are under the impression that they have nothing to live for therefore having suicidal thoughts it’s not so uncommon.
The signs and symptoms of a clinical depression may vary from one person to another. It includes:
- lasting sadness and anxiousness;
- loss of appetite which can result in a weight loss or the opposite, resulting in weight gain;
- the lack of sleep (hypersomnia or insomnia) or oversleeping (hypersomnia);
- irritability or restlessness, frustration, feeling worthless, hopeless, inappropriate guilt, pessimism;
- difficulties in thinking, staying focus, remembering and even in making decisions;
- feeling fatigued and without any physical energy, headaches;
- suicidal thoughts or even attempts at suicide;
- loss of interest in any activities.
The manifestation of the depression can be different depending on the person’s age and sex. Teenagers can be grumpy and hostile, losing they temper very easy while the adults that are facing problems such as the loss of independence, bereavement or health problems have a tendency of complaining about their physical condition rather than the emotional one.
Women have a depression rate that is twice as big as men’s. The reason in this may be due to the hormonal factors, especially the PMS (premenstrual syndrome) or the PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). They experience guilt, excessive sleep and overeat.
Men however are less likely to feel helplessness or excessive eating, instead they can feel anger, violence, reckless behavior, complaining about their physic fatigue.
The major depressive disorder (MDD) is a type of depression that is characterized by a sever sad mood that last from two weeks up to six months.
The subtypes of MDD are:
a) Depression with melancholic features - where the individual experiences a loss of pleasure in all of his activities, waking early in the morning, excessive weight loss and sometimes psychomotor retardation.
b) Depression with atypical features - the individual is having a reactivity mood, has an increased appetite, excessive sleep, somnolence mood and social impairment. It is the most common form of depression.
c) Depression with psychotic features - they are presented with hallucinations or delusions.
Other types of depression are:
- Dysthmya. A person suffers daily a depressive mood, not as severe as a major depression, lasting for at least two years.
- Bipolar disorder. Is caracterised by stats of hypomania, mania and depression.
- Postnatal depression. It occurs in women after childbirth, less commonly in men, with similar symptoms as the clinical depression but only lasting for a few weeks if treated.
- Recurrent brief depression. The patients suffer from depressive episodes once a month lasting less than three days. This may occur over the span of at least one year.