Also known as major depressive disorder or severe depressive disorder, clinical depression causes melancholia, intense sadness, or hopelessness that has exaggerated to the level where an individual’s activities of daily living and/or social functioning gets disturbed. As a state of dejection or low mood that does not cause dysfunction is referred to as depression, what also separates clinical depression from the everyday meaning of being depressed is its being diagnosed through clinical tests.

It is often identified as having no motivation to do anything, being blue or feeling sad for no reason.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), clinical depression is very likely to become the second leading cause of disability in the world by the year 2020. It is already a leading cause of disability in North America and other countries.

Causes of Clinical Depression:

There are no identified causes of clinical depression. However, a variety of factors are considered to cause it. They are:

• Heredity
• Physiology
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Psychological factors
• Early experiences of sadness
• Poor medical conditions
• Poor diet
• Postpartum depression
• Living with a depressed person

Diagnosis:

One of the following two elements must be present for a period of at least two weeks according to the DSM-IV-TR criterion for diagnosing a major depressive disorder such as clinical depression.

• Anhedonia
• Depressed mood

If either of these symptoms are accompanied with five of the following other symptoms for the same time period, clinical depression is usually confirmed.

• Fear and/or feeling of being abandoned by close ones
• Decreased pleasure or interest in almost all of the daily activities
• A specific plan for committing suicide, recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, a suicide attempt, desire to just lay down and die, or recurrent ideas of death.
• Loss of energy
• Physical or mental fatigue.
• Trouble concentrating
• Disturbed sleeping habits
• Emptiness
• Feeling of intense fear and/or sadness
• Feelings of overwhelming anxiety, worthlessness, guilt, hopelessness, loneliness, and/or helplessness
• Weight gain or loss

Treatment:

Consult your doctor if you are having symptoms of clinical depression on ASAP basis.