depression

• Depression


  A mood disorder which is more than a few days of feeling down, but it lasts for an extended period of time
• To be diagnosed under DSM, at least five symptoms need to be present during the same two week period
• Severity of depressive symptoms


  Can vary from a low mood, to severe depression where an individual is suicidal
• Behavioural characteristics of depression

  • Reduced activity
  • Weight loss or weight gain
  • Insomnia or hypersomnia
  • Fatigue or loss of energy
• Emotional characteristics of depression

  • Low mood
  • Feelings of worthlessness or excessive/inappropriate guilt
  • Recurrent thoughts of death and ideas about suicide
• Cognitive characteristics of depression

  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Focus more on the negatives and less on the positives
• The sufferer will have a loss of interest or pleasure in nearly every day, all or almost all activities most of the day
• The individual will have a depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day as indicated by themselves and/or others
• The individual will feel worthless or have excessive/inappropriate guilt (which may be delusional)
• The sufferer will have recurrent thoughts of death and ideas about suicide and may even attempt suicide
• The sufferer will find it difficult to concentrate most days and may find it difficult to stay on task, which can interfere with their work
• They will focus more on the negatives of a situation and ignore the positives and are more likely to recall unhappy events rather than happy ones