characteristics of depression

    Cards (17)

    • What is depression?
      A mental health disorder characterised by low mood and persistent low energy moods
    • How does the DSM-5 categorise depression?
      characterised by changes to mood
      -major depressive disorder (severe short term)
      -Persistent depressive disorder (long term/recurring)
      -Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (childhood tantrum)
      -Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (disruption to mood prior/during menstruation)
    • What are behavioural characteristics?
      behaviours in which people act, behaviour change when we experience an episode of depression
    • What are the 3 behavioural characteristics of depression?
      Activity levels
      Disruption to sleep and eating
      Aggression and self-harm
    • What is Activity levels?
      People may have reduced levels of energy, lethargic
      Can make people withdrawn from work, education and social life
      People in extreme cases won't be able to get our of bed
      It can have opposite effect- Psychomotor agitation where agitated people struggle to relax and may constantly move around
    • What is disruption to sleep and eating?
      Associated with changes to sleeping behaviour, a person may have reduced sleep (insomnia), premature walking, increased need for sleep (hypersomnia)
      appetite and eating may increase/decrease leading to weight loss/gain
    • What is aggression and self-harm?
      People are often irritated and can become verbally or physically aggressive
      this can impact their lives- ending a relationship or quitting a job
      depression can lead to physical aggression directed towards themselves- self-harm, suicide, cutting
    • What are cognitive characteristics?
      The way people process information
    • What are the three cognitive characteristics of depression?
      Poor concentration
      Dwelling on the negatives
      Absolutist thinking
    • What is poor concentration?
      Depression is associated with poor levels of concentration
      People may be unable to stick to tasks or find it hard to make decisions they would normally find straightforward
      poor concentration and poor decision-making are likely to interfere with work
    • What is dwelling on the negatives?
      People are inclined to pay more attention to negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives
      People with depression also have a bias towards recalling unhappy events rather than the happy ones
    • What is absolutist thinking?
      People with depression often tend to think in the terms that most situations are all-good/ all-bad
      'black-and-white thinking'
      if there's a situation that's unfortunate they see it as an absolute disaster
    • what are emotional characteristics?
      emotion is related to a persons feelings or moods
    • What are the three emotional characteristics of depression?
      lowered mood
      anger
      lowered self-esteem
    • What is lowered mood?
      Having a lowered mood or feeling sad, these are still defining emotional elements of depression but its more pronounced than the daily experience of sadness/ being lethargic
      People with depression often feel 'empty'/'worthless'
    • What is anger?
      People with depression often experience anger and even extreme anger
      This can be directed towards themselves or others
      emotions can lead to aggressive or self-harm behaviours
    • What is lowered self-esteem?
      Self-esteem is the emotional experience of how much we like ourselves
      People with depression tend to have reduced self-esteem (people can like themselves less than usual)
      This can be extreme eg/ self loathing and 'hating themselves'
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