Types of Depression

If you find yourself overcome by uncontrollable feelings of sadness, guilt and low self-esteem that you cant' shake off for 2 months or more--you're probably suffering from major depression--a serious illness. Fortunately, there's no need to be resigned to this problem. A variety of medications are available to bring your mood back to normal and let you get on with your life. Ordinary bouts of depression come and go, but major, unshakable depression seems to be the result of a change in the brain or body chemistry.
Dysthymic Disorder

Dysthmic disorder (also called systhymia) is a long-standing feeling of depression accompained by other symptoms such as sleep problems, poor appetite, or even thoughts of suicide. The symptoms of systhymia are never as severe as those of major depression. To be considered a problem, the condition must last at least two years and include three other symptoms besides a low, irratable mood. Dysthymia is easily controlled with a variety of antidepressent medications.
Adjustment Disorder

It might be better to say immediately what depression is not. It's not just feeling temporarily "blue" or "down in the dumps" around the holidays for example. It's more than being sad or feeling intense after a loss of a loved one. Saddness and grief arenormal and temporary reactions to life's stresses. In psychotherapy, they're known as adjustment disorders. In days or weeks, people's mood lift and they function normally again.
Melancholic Depression

There's also more severe form of major depression known as melancholic depression. DSM-IV defines melancholic depression as a condition in which the individual has lost interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities, and doesn't improve-even temporarily-when something good happens to them.
Psychotic Depression

Most serious type of major depression. There's a condition known as psychotic depression, or depression with psychotic features, which carries a major risk of suicide. Peoplw with psychotic depression have delusions and halluncinations, usually consistent with their predominant sad mood. For example, a person may have delusions that he's sinned in an unforgivable way. As many as 15 percent of people with major depression develop psychcotic depression.
Atypical Depression

There's an anomalous disorder known as atypical depression, which, despite its name is not uncommon. It turns the typical symptoms of depression sleep and eat less then normal people with a typical depression tend to oversleep, over eat and gain weight rapidly-behavior that is described as vegetative.

copyright 2000Kimberlyrogers2000@yahoo.com