The Term Major Depressive Disorder

*Major Depression: persistent depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life.

Depression is characterized by depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, changes in weight or appetite, insomnia or hypersomnia, psychomotor agitation, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, difficulty concentrating, or recurrent thoughts of death. A diagnosis of major depressive disorder requires the presence of five or more symptoms during the same two-week period and

Major depressive disorder, we all have probably heard of it, but do we really know what is it is ? Major depressive disorder is “a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest… major depressive disorder or clinical depression, affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems”(Mayo Clinic Staff). Having this disorder puts you in a very unstable position because you are constantly feeling depressed so it affects the way you think and feel and that can be very dangerous. Sometimes this happens to a person for one day, but put yourself in the shoes of someone who experiencing this for more than two weeks? When you have major depressive disorder, the signs of depression disorder can last for two weeks or more(myers646). This dis order must be treated immediately because “depression may make you feel as if life isn 't worth living”(Mayo Clinic Staff). Feeling this way can lead you to doing things that you can not take back such as committing suicide and sadly that can happen when you have major depressive disorder. Kiyohara and Yoshimasu conducted a research that showed that 90% of suicides have were dealing with major depressive disorder(qtd. in The World Health Organization). Throughout this paper I will be discussing the causes, symptoms and treatment when dealing with major depressive disorder.

The DSM is used as a standard of reference for psychological diagnosis. The DSM was originally published in 1952 containing only 106 diagnoses; today the revised DSM-IV-TR contains 365 diagnoses. Throughout the history of the DSM, individuals in the mental health profession have relied on it for clarification of disorders, facilitating research, improving communication with other professionals and improving the collection of clinical information. With a new DSM-V underway, there has been a lot of issues surrounding the contents and classifications of the new DSM. There are

Mental disorders can be diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence. Major depression is a lost of interest or pleasure in all activities. People with major depression experience symptoms such as a change of appetite, restlessness sleep, decreased energy, feeling of worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, and/or suicidal thoughts. A major depressive episode can lasts for about 2 weeks or more. A major depressive episode can be caused by stress, social anxiety, or other reasons. People with a milder depression are able to function and seem normal (DSM-IV-TR). A major depressive disorder affects about 14.8 million adults in America with 6.7 million at age 18 and older in the United States population. A depressive disorder can develop in any age and more likely to occur more often in women than in men and any person who is going through a hard time can develop depression. A treatment for individuals with depression is medication, psychotherapy, or attending social groups, 80 percent of the people who follow up with these treatments begin to show improvement with in four to six weeks. About 50 percent of the patients that take medicine to “cure” the depression are unsuccessful with the treatment, because they stop taking their meds due to the side effects, but the people who are in the support

Major depressive disorder is a condition when a person experiences two or more weeks of depressed mood or lack of interest in things that usually gave them pleasure not due to any drugs or other medical condition. For this condition to be present a person must show at least five signs of depression (classified as: depressed mood most of the day; diminished interest in activities; significant weight loss or weight gain when not dieting; insomnia or too much sleep; lethargy; fatigue; feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt; difficulty concentrating or thinking; and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide). Bipolar disorder on the other hand is when an individual alternates between hopelessness and an overexcited state of mania. Mood disorders run in families. Women are at twice the risk of having depression and today we find that depression is widespread. Although the majority of depressive episodes end on their own they are usually induced by a stressful event. The risk of suicide or self-injury is higher in individuals who are

In an attempt to better understand depression in today’s youth, I have chosen to explore the depths of Major Depressive Disorder and how it affects the young people in our society. Depression amongst school age children and adolescents are the primary focus. The prevalence, adversities, and treatment of the depression are discussed as well. After exploring these few facets of the disorder, I will talk briefly about the Ecological Model developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner and Morris in 1998 that is used by counselors to help evaluate and assess the children who are referred by teachers or medical

Depression is a clinical condition associated with the normal emotions of bereavement and sadness. However, this condition does not pass on when the external causes of these emotions dissolve and is usually inconsistent to their cause. In essence, the classic severe conditions of depression have not been attributed to external precipitating cause. One of the most common conditions of depression is Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), which is a psychiatric condition that impairs moods, behavioral patterns, and thoughts for a protracted duration. This psychiatric illness tends to impair the patient’s social functioning and quality of life due to its impacts on cognitive functioning. Some of the most common symptoms of the condition include difficulty in concentration, weight change, minimal interest in pleasure, high rate of suicide, and physical impairment. The severity of this disease was evident in the year 2000 when the World Health Organization ranked it as the fourth cause of disability and premature death across the globe.

Major depression is defined as a person who “has a history of one or more depressive episodes and no history of manic or hypomanic episodes. Symptoms often interfere with the person’s social or occupational functioning and in some cases may include psychotic features”. (Varcarolis 327) Psychotic features are “breaks with reality (such as

However, there are some cases in which clinical depression affects children and teenagers. When MDD starts at a young stage in life, it will later increase its severity in adulthood (Fava, 2000). Furthermore, depression isn't a major defect to someone's health, nor is it something you can overcome easily. It takes years upon years of medical and non-medical treatments to cure this psychological disorder. Besides experiencing excessive melancholy, MDD's symptoms are much more broader and happen regularly depending on its severity. These symptoms may include, excessive frustration and enraged tantrums, little to no interest in sexual activity, fatigue, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and physical complications such as lower back pain and severe migraines (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). There are several factors that cause MDD. These factors include alcohol and/or drug addiction, medical problems (i.e. cancer, etc.), side-effects from certain drugs both, prescription and non prescription, chronic insomnia, and high stressful events (Rogge MD,

Major depression, a combination of symptoms such as sadness, hopelessness, feelings of guilt, loss of interest in life, decreased energy, sleep and appetite disruptions, difficulty concentrating, etc. that interfere with one's daily life (2), has a long history of being recognized as an illness in America. Before 1960s, the methods of its diagnosis and treatment were largely left to the

Major Depressive Disorder or MDD is a very common clinical condition that affects millions of people every year. According to the Agency for Health Care Policy & Research, “ depression is under diagnosed & untreated by most medical doctors, despite the fact that it can almost always be treated successfully.

Depression is a normal emotional reaction to perceived loss and hopelessness (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002). There are a number of different types of depression such as chronic depression, manic depression and the primary focus of this essay Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD is a clinical depression, which is more chronic and more severe compared to other types of depression. It significantly disrupts the individual’s ability to meet the normal demands of life. According to many clinicians, clinical depression should be considered as a medical illness in need of medical intervention. Other mental health professionals believe this is an overstatement of the role of physiology and the

The prevalence of MDD in the United States is approximately 7%, although the prevalence varies significantly by age groups and gender (APA, 2013). For instance, the prevalence of MDD in individuals aged between 18 and 29 is three times higher than the prevalence among individuals aged 60 and older (APA, 2013). Specifically, approximately 14.8 million American adults in a given year are affected by the disorder (Kessler, Chiu, Demler, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005). The World Health Organization assessed depression as the fourth leading disorder affecting individuals worldwide (Murray, & Lopez,

Major Depressive Disorder is marked by sadness and any four of the following seven criteria: weight loss or weight gain, insomnia or hypersomnia, motor slowing or agitation, fatigue, worthlessness or guilt, impaired concentration, and thoughts of suicide or suicide attempt. Those with Major Depressive Disorder have never had mania or hypomania and may also have anxiety symptoms. When the Major Depressive Disorder is combined with melancholic features, then the person has a “loss of pleasure in all, or almost all, activities [and has a] lack of reactivity to usually pleasurable stimuli (does not feel better, even temporarily, when something good happens” (American Psychiatric Association, p. 185). Observations made by others, such as being tearful, is also a criterion of this disorder (American