How to Recognize Serious Depression

Many clinicians do not use a tight scale to diagnose depression, and even normal grief is categorized and treated as depression these days. You may be depressed but not suffering from depression at the same time. Therefore, it is very important to know what depression is. Read on to learn more about the clinical features and diagnosis of depression.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Write the following 9 symptoms (listed in Steps 2 through 10) on a piece of paper. Check the ones that you think you are having.

2. Depressed mood.

3. Loss of interests or pleasure.

4. Change in sleep pattern.

5. Change in appetite or weight (both increase or decrease).

6. Change in psychomotor activity.

7. Loss of energy.

8. Trouble concentrating.

9. Thoughts of worthlessness or guilt.

10. Thoughts about death or suicide.

11. Remember, to qualify for major depression you must at least have 5 of these symptoms. They should be present for a minimum of 2 consecutive weeks.

Resources

• UpToDate Online
• More information on diagnosing serious depression.
• Read my full article on depression at helium.com
• Read my full article on depression at TutorialTub.com

[wytetyger059]

on 9/1/2008 Very good advice. Yep, that's what I had, except that I was more homicidal than suicidal. But I got through it.

[shahbasharat]

on 1/21/2008 I have added some more links

[mgmt85]

on 1/19/2008 Great job on the article!! Good advice!

[ChantelAlise]

on 1/17/2008 I agree that it is a nice, quick over view. Depression can turn into a serious illness. It led to anorexia in my sister. Therefore, the more light we can shed on the subject better. Thanks for bringing it to light again.

[shahbasharat]

on 1/16/2008 Thanks, Jane. I have added a useful link 'uptodate online' that you may not be able to retrieve from the search engines. This is one of the major online educational web resources used by MDs nationwide. Hope that helps. As far as treatment options of depression are concerned there are many and could be enumerated under a separate heading. In this article I only wanted to identify the diagnostic criterion for major depressive illness. It’s a huge topic in itself with multiple ramifications.