Depression

What is Depression?

Background

Nearly all of us suffer from an occasional spell of depression. Loss, an illness or a major disappointment can all induce temporary feelings of hopelessness, apathy or defeat. The key word is temporary. Most of the time, we are able to rationalize, heal and get back on our feet fairly quickly.

Clinical depression, on the other hand, may last for months or years. It may be continuous or come in brief bursts. It will slowly eat the enjoyment out of the life of a sufferer. This sort of depression is by no means rare. It is estimated that about 9.5% of Americans suffer from some form of depressive disorder. This figure is likely to be fairly constant across Western nations.

Main Types of Depression

The most common form of depression, affecting about half of all sufferers, is major depression, otherwise known as major depressive disorder. It involves at least one episode of deep depression. Often, further depressive episodes will follow. In this form, there is no corresponding ‘upswing’ in mood between episodes.

Bipolar affective disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder, is also common. In the so-called Type I version, a sufferer may swing between depression and mania, which is an emotional, irrational, highly excitable state. A swing may occur in the space of weeks, days or even hours. Type II sufferers still swing from a middling depression to hypomania, a less serious form of mania. They do not have the very intense maniacal episodes of Type I.

Less common are cyclothymia and dysthymia. Cyclothymia is somewhat like bipolar affective disorder, but manic episodes tend to be more mild, and depression not so severe. Dysthymia indicates a low-level, but fairly constant depression. Sufferers of this variant often feel depressed for years, with perhaps only a few months respite.

What Depression Does

Depression modifies the sufferers’ emotions, thoughts and physiology. Feelings of sadness and hopelessness are common, although some sufferers describe a feeling of numbness or emptiness. Many sufferers also report a deep, unfocused sense of guilt, preventing them from taking any enjoyment in life. Mentally, a sufferer may find that they lose concentration, have difficultly remembering simple things, and constantly make small errors, for which they chide themselves.

Depression also affects the way the mind interacts with the body. Sufferers often find their appetite for food either completely diminished or totally exaggerated. Even when eating, they may be unable to enjoy the taste of food. Libido is often an early casualty of depression, with sufferers losing all interest in sex. Sleep patterns are almost always affected, with some sufferers sleeping for one hour and others for sixteen. Perhaps unsurprisingly, restlessness and tiredness are also common complaints.