What is depression?
Depression is a type of mood disorder or mental condition where a person suffers from a persistent state of sadness, inability to do tasks, hopelessness, worthlessness, and so on. It’s a complex condition that sort of rewires a person’s brain and distorts their normal life in all aspects.
Its severity differs from person to person, ranging from mild to moderate to severe, and can affect any person regardless of age, gender, and socio-cultural background.
Mild or moderate forms of depression can be found very commonly and can be treated with little or sometimes no intervention from the practitioner. However, there is a form of depression that affects a person more frequently, which is known as clinical depression or major depressive disorder (MDD).
What is clinical depression or major depressive disorder (MDD)?
Clinical depression, or major depressive disorder (MDD), is a specific mental condition that creates symptoms of depression. Impaired individual lives make it difficult to carry out major life activities. MDD has frequent and prolonged symptoms of depression lasting at least 2 weeks.
It affects our ability to maintain sleep, disrupts appetite, and has difficulty concentrating and thinking clearly. Usually occurring in episodes MDD is a chronic condition, sometimes lasting weeks or months.
How common is clinical depression or MDD?
Clinical depression is common and affects almost 5% to 17% of individuals in their lifetimes.
According to consensus, an estimated 23.0 million adults have dependent episodes, at least one. Nearly 8.3% of U.S. adults are affected by it, with the rate of females being much higher at 10.3% as compared to males at
6.2%.
What is the difference between depression and clinical depression?
Depression can be defined as a broad term for a cluster of conditions involving mild disorders. It is characterized by a general state of low mood and sadness, which can be temporary or prolonged depending on its severity and diagnosis. Depression may not always require a clinical diagnosis or intervention. Clinical depression, or MDD, on the other hand, is a condition diagnosed by the American Manual of Disorders (DSM-50). Climica and depression have a very low feeling of sadness and hopelessness, which interferes with daily life. It hampers the emotional and mental well-being of a person.
What are the causes of clinical depression?
Like any other form of depression, clinical depression could be caused by multiple factors ranging from severity. Like depression, clinical depression also has multiple risk factors of onset.
1. Stressful events in life
Stress could take a toll on a person’s physical and mental health. In cases of clinical depression, stress plays a significant role. Events such as grief, the death of a loved one, traumatic experiences such as assault and death, divorce, financial problems, etc. could lead to clinical depression in a person.
2. The brain chemistry of a person
Every person is unique in their way, be it physically or emotionally. This applies to our brain as well. Everyone behaves differently to different things in life. Our brain plays a lot of role in determining our moods and moods. Hormones such as neurotransmitters are responsible for regulating our emotions. Imbalances and disturbances in the level of hormone concentration could cause a decline in our mood and lead to depression.
3. Genetics and family
Like our brain, a human’s genetic makeup is also unique, even in the case of identical twins. In some people, depression can also be caused by genetic problems, and if anyone in the family has the symptoms of depression, there are high chances that this could be due to the symptoms of a certain generation.
4. Childhood development and the effect of the environment
Childhood is the epitome of individual development, followed by adolescence. At this stage, nature and nurture play an important role in determining an indicator of personality and overall growth. Traumatic experience at this stage is more prevalent in the brain as compared to adulthood. The effect of abstinence or a stressful environment could leave a lifetime impact on the child’s mind, which may later manifest in the form of a disorder like depression.
What are the signs and symptoms of clinical depression?
Symptoms of MDD can be mild, moderate, or severe, with weekly or monthly episodes; these include:
1. Feeling sadness
Persistent states of sadness, emptiness, and hopelessness characterize low mood. In adolescence, sadness should not be replaced by irritability.
2. Loss of interest
Individuals suffering from groin depression lose interest in actions that they used to enjoy.
3. Change in appetite
In MDD, the person loses their appetite to eat or drink anything. They seem to give up even their favorite foods. Prolonged periods of less appetite lead to weight loss or weight gain in the case of binge eating.
4. Slows physical movement
The person has slowed physical movement, including slowed speech and decreased movement, and cognitive activities are also impaired, including thinking, concentration, and reasoning ability.
5. Disruptive sleeping pattern
Due to depression, an individual may sleep so little or sleep excessively, leading to a disruptive sleep pattern. The prolonged disrupted sleep pattern may cause excessive daytime sleepiness or conditions such as insomnia or hypersomnia.
6. Fatigue and tiredness
A person suffering from depression may feel tired and have low energy all the time without doing anything. The severe period of stress could stress out, leading to excessive fatigue throughout the day.
7.Worthlessness and feeling guilt
This could be classified as a traditional case of depression! It is easy to see that in cases of severe depression, a person has extreme feelings of worthlessness about their life. Feeling worthless, they seem to feel excessive guilt due to being a liability to their family and loved ones.
8. Suicidal Thought and Technologies
The most severe symptoms of depression are depression, suicidal thoughts, and tendencies. There are lots of deaths caused by suicide daily with major of them being cases of severe depression leading to suicide, unfortunately.
What are the treatment plans for clinical depression?
Treatment of clinical depression involves the use of medicine and psychotherapy. Both of the studies conducted by professional occupational psychologists were considered more effective approaches to treating clinical depression.