Depression, or a depressed mood, may in everyday English
refer to a state of melancholia, unhappiness or sadness, or to a relatively
minor downturn in mood that may last only a few hours or days. This is generally
seen as quite distinct from the diagnosis of clinical depression. However, if
depressed mood lasts at least two weeks, and is accompanied by other symptoms
that interfere with daily living, it may be seen as a symptom of clinical
depression, dysthymia or some other diagnosable mental illness, or alternatively
as sub-syndromal depression.
In the field of psychiatry, the word depression can also have this meaning of
low mood but more specifically refers to a mental illness when it has reached a
severity and duration to warrant a diagnosis, whether there is an obvious
situational cause or not; see Clinical depression for this meaning. A typical
psychiatric description of depressed mood (in the DSM) is "... depressed, sad,
hopeless, discouraged, or 'down in the dumps'." In a clinical setting, a
depressed mood can be something a patient reports (a symptom), or something a
clinician observes (a sign), or both.
A depressed mood is generally situational and reactive, and associated with
grief, loss, or a major social transition. A change of residence, marriage,
divorce, the break-up of a significant relationship, the death of a loved one,
graduation, or job loss are all examples of instances that might trigger a
depressed mood.
Subjective experience of being depressed
The feeling of depression is one of emotional suffering, sometimes seen as a
mental analogue of physical pain. Someone who is depressed may be said to have a
"heavy heart", or if more seriously depressed be "broken-hearted", because of a
common feelings of the emotion in the chest.[1] Other somatic expressions can be
a sense of "low spirits", a "drag" or being weighed down, and a heaviness in
breathing, expressed as despondent or dejected sighing. It may also be
associated with apathy, boredom, emptiness and lack of any positive source of
interest or joy.
External affective signs of depressed mood also include a physical hunching or
stooping, or putting the head in the hands, and an appearance of being
physically subdued, and flatness of speech.
((SITE MAP))
|
|