Diagnosis and classification of depression

Depression - classification

Affective disorder (affective = external expression of emotional state

·        Major depressive disorder (mdd) in the dsm-iv. criteria include

·        depressed mood most of the day, almost every day

·        markedly diminished interest in all or nearly all activities all day or almost all day

·        significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain

·        insomnia or hyposomnia – almost every day

·        psychomotor agitation or retardation

·        fatigue or loss of energy almost every day

·        feelings of worthlessness or exessive or inappropriate guilt (may be delusional)

·        diminished ability to concentrate, indecisiveness

·        recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal idealation

·        cause significant distress in social or occupational functioning

·        are not due to medical condition or effects of a substance

·        are not better accounted for by bereavement

Also dysthimic disorder.

·        fewer milder symptoms more than two years

·        low self esteem, low energy, pessimism other symptoms

·        MDD is a universal disorder found in all countries sampled by smith and weissman

·        in europe, depression varies from 4.9% to 7.4%. Blazer et al found us rates of depression to be 4.9%. dysthimic disorder = a further 2-4%. most common mental disorder.

·        depression on the increase in young people

·        more common in women than men, ratio 2:1. could be due to biological and psychosocial reasons.

·        Longitudinal studies – e.g coryell et al, most depressive disorders disappear within 4 to 6 months regardless of treatments

·        WHO – thornicroft and sartorious found that only a third of people showed normal functioning

·        three…