It took a lot of decades for our world and its people to accept the reality of mental health. Years of taboo, stigma, and religious fanaticism made it difficult for people with mental disorders to seek help. In today’s world, people are more aware of mental health conditions, but there are areas that most people have no idea about.
What are the different types of depression?
Depression is a mental condition that can have a disastrous impact on life if left unchecked.
Many people do know there can be various types of depression, depending upon its severity, symptoms, onset, and effect.
Depression in itself can be of various types. The types of depression varies not just by the symptoms one exhibits but also by when and what causes the depression. It is common for depression to feel dull, have a low mood, and lose interest in activities; however, this may not always be the case; in some cases, it is caused by internal factors, and in others, it is external.
Following are some of the many types of depression that many people suffer from.
Major Depressive Disorder
It is the clinical term for what we usually call depression in people, except if it is a severe case of that depression. On a clinical level, this is diagnosed if the person shows these symptoms for 2 weeks (according to DSM 5). MDD is displayed by a severe loss of interest in day-to-day activities, loneliness, sadness, discouragement, negative thinking and a feeling of worthlessness or guilt.
The above mentioned symptoms are accompanied by some physical symptoms such as,
loss of appetite and disturbance in sleeping patterns.
People may either eat a lot, may not be able to eat, or might not feel hungry.
In some cases, it is also seen that people cannot sleep or might sleep too much and avoid social interactions.
In short, MDD is a severe problem that affects people’s daily functioning and how they live their lives in general.
Persistent Depressive Disorder:
This is a type of depression that is mostly the same as major depressive disorder, the only difference being that it is the chronic version of MDD. It was previously known as dysthymia. It is diagnosed on a clinical scale when a person has had a depressed mood for most of the day on most days for at least 2 years. It is one year for children and adolescents. It may be that the person has a normal or elevated mood for a few days up to 2 months at maximum, but, most of the time, the person has a low and depressed mood. This alternating character distinguishes it from major depressive disorder. It is a chronic disorder that can last up to 10 years, sometimes lasting almost 20 years.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or seasonal depression, is a type of depressive disorder that occurs during seasonal changes. It usually begins around the same time of the year, almost every year, when the season ends. The depression usually starts impending and remains until winter storms come. The changes in weather, coupled with gloomy days and a lack of sunshine, cause a first-rate low mood. Seasonal depression ends with the onset of spring and summer.
Postpartum depression
Postpartum depression is arguably one of the most common and neglected types of depression among women. During pregnancy, a woman goes through lots of physical and psychological changes that can impact her mood. The constant fluctuation of hormones, combined with the stress caused by pregnancy and childbirth, could lead to the development of depression. A newly pregnant woman suffers from extreme stages of stress, anger, irritability, and worthlessness. These symptoms generally last up to a few weeks, but in some cases, their impact can be long-lasting and significantly dangerous for a person’s well-being. In serious cases, it could even lead to the development of suicidal tendencies.
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and premenstrual syndrome (PSM)
The menstrual cycle may cause PMS in most cases. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a condition that occurs before the onset of a monthly period and is characterized by a cluster of feelings such as anxiety, headache, bloating, diarrhea, irritability, abdominal cramps, etc. These are short-lived, but their constant prevalence may develop into premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a subtype of depression that occurs in women and is accompanied by extreme shifts in mood. Prolonged mood disruption caused by PMS may cause premenstrual dysphoric disorder, one of the least known types of depression occurring in women.
Bipolar Disorder:
Bipolar disorder is a type of mental condition that disrupts our mood. It causes a person to suffer from extremely low moods to highly elevated moods—two opposite spectrums of emotion.
This is a type of depression in which the person may sometimes have an elevated mood and sometimes a low mood.
Before explaining bipolar, let’s take a quick look at Cyclothymia. It is a kind of bipolar disorder in which the person is repeatedly in a low mood without showing any other symptoms of full bipolar disorder. It is considered a cyclothymic disorder if the above symptoms remain for 2 years. In addition to a low mood, a person may display low energy, a feeling of inadequacy, social withdrawal, and a pessimistic brooding attitude.
Bipolar Disorder I
It is characterized by alternating moods of elation called the mania or manic phase. The other side of this spectrum is the low mood, which is the depressed phase, where a person is marked by a lack of interest in activities and low energy. In manic phases, the person shows extreme energy and a highly elevated mood, which may sometimes lead to the person being violent and causing severe impairment in daily activities. This is called bipolar I disorder.
Bipolar II disorder
Another type of bipolar disorder where the person alternates between a depressed state and a manic state, but the manic state is not severe enough to impair the person’s daily activities. This is called hypomania, the less severe version of mania.