Depression (mood)
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In the fields of psychology and psychiatry, the terms depression or depressed refer to sadness and other related emotions and behaviours. It can be thought of as either a disease or a syndrome.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) states that a depressed mood is often reported as feeling sad, helpless, and hopeless. In traditional colloquy, "depressed" is often synonymous with "sad," but both clinical and non-clinical depression can also refer to a conglomeration of more than one feeling.
Biology
Biological influences of depression are varied, but may relate to malnutrition, heredity, hormones, seasons, stress, illness, drug or alcohol use, neurotransmitter malfunction, long-term exposure to dampness and mold[1], back injury, and to aerosol exposure.[2][3] There are also correlations between long term sleep difficulties and depression. Up to 90% of patients with depression are found to have sleep difficulties.[4]
Mechanism of adaptation
While a depressed mood is usually referred to (and perceived) as negative, it can sometimes be subtly beneficial in helping a person adapt to circumstance. For example, physical illness, such as influenza, can lead to feelings of psychological malaise and depression that seem, at first, only to compound an already unpleasant situation.
However, the experience of depression, or feeling "down," often results in physical inertia, which leads to the compulsion to rest. The fleeting helplessness and immobility of the physically ill may also serve to elicit care from others."[5]
From an evolutionary standpoint, some argue that depression could be at least partially related to atavistic fears that were originally based on real dangers. Paul Keedwell, in his book, How Sadness Survived: The Evolutionary Basis of Depression, suggests that, because "social support and interdependence were important features of the [human] ancestral environment," "the [peer] group could have offered extra help to the depressed person until the condition resolved."
Further, "...a depressed person may change the attitudes of other people around him, making them more sympathetic to his needs and therefore giving him a long term [social or reproductive] advantage."[6]
Milder depression has been associated with what has been called depressive realism, or the "sadder-but-wiser" effect, a view of the world that is relatively undistorted by positive biases.[7]
Psychiatric disorders
Episodes of depressed mood are a core feature of the following psychological disorders, as specified by the DSM-IV:
- Major depressive disorder
- Dysthymia
- Bipolar disorder
- Cyclothymia
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Schizoaffective disorder
- Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
- Adjustment disorder with depressed mood
- Postnatal depression
- Depressive Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
See also
- Clinical depression
- Major depressive disorder
- Depression and natural therapies
- Types of psychological depression
- Emotion
- Happiness
- "Study: Chronic Back Pain, Depression Related" by Regina Sass, 2007
- "Managing stress, depression and chronic back pain" William Deardorff, Ph.D & Grant Cooper, M.D.
References
- ^ Edmond D. Shenassa, Constantine Daskalakis, Allison Liebhaber, Matthias Braubach, and MaryJean Brown (2007). "Dampness and Mold in the Home and Depression: An Examination of Mold-Related Illness and Perceived Control of One's Home as Possible Depression Pathways". American Journal of Public Health. 97 (10): 1893. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.093773. PMID 17761567.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Farrow, Alexandra (2003). "Symptoms of mothers and infants related to total volatile organic compounds in household products". Arch Environ Health. 58 (10): 633–41. doi:10.3200/AEOH.58.10.633-641. PMID 15562635.
- ^ Air fresheners can make mothers and babies ill, University of Bristol press release issued 19 October 2004
- ^ Roth T (2005). "Prevalence, associated risks, and treatment patterns of insomnia". J Clin Psychiatry. 66 Suppl 9: 10–3, quiz 42–3. PMID 16336036.
- ^ Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, Randolphe M. Nesse and George C. Williams | Vintage Books | 1994 | ISBN 0-8129-2224-7
- ^ How Sadness Survived: The Evolutionary Basis of Depression, Marcello Spinella | Radcliffe Publishing | 2008 | ISBN 1846190134
- ^ Taylor, SE (1991). Positive Illusions: Creative Self-deception and the Healthy Mind. New York, NY, USA: Basic Books. ISBN 0465060536.
External links
- Depression at Curlie
- Depression Research News at ScienceDaily
- National Alliance on Mental Illness – Depression support, advocacy, and education
- National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association - National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association
- Stanford Depression Research Clinic
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) – United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Doing Well – Depression self-assessment and information from the UK National Health Service
- Depression information from mental health charity The Royal College of Psychiatrists
