What Is Clinical Depression?

what is depression

Question by Celeste: What is clinical depression?
I was told I had clinical depression.
How bad is it compared to other forms of depression?
What does it mean?

Best answer:

Answer by Wile E. Coyote
Depression is a “scientific” term, however it is often used in a colloquial sense. Therefore, “Clinical Depression” is the term to distinguish a scientific definition of the the word depression from its use in common speech.

There are several different scientific formulations to identify “clinical depression” but the most common is the definition in the DSM (Diagnostic Statistics Manual, currently about to release edition V).

There are too many items to fit into a YA, so I am posting a couple links for you.

This link is from DSM-IV for the diagnostic criteria of Major Depressive Episode and Disorder:

Here is a good link detailing the various criteria and proposed revisions for Depressive Disorder diagnostic criteria in DSM-V.

Here is a scholarly article (from the American Journal of Psychiatry) evaluating diagnostic criteria:

This is the website for the official DSM-V release:

So, that should give you a number of very reliable and detailed resources to understand what is “clinical depression” and how it is diagnosed. In terms of implications, the point of having a formal definition is to understand when a person reaches a depressed state significant enough to warrant medical assistance. For instance, someone that has just gone to a funeral for a family member might be grieving and sad for a few weeks, or even a few months, but that would not be classified as depression and is expected to resolve on its own. If it does not and eventually the diagnostic criteria are met, then that persons grief evolved into something unusual, an abnormal level of sadness that is preventing them from living normally. At this point, it would be appropriate to introduce medical assistance.

Note that once the decision is made that there exists a case of abnormal sadness, of “clinically significant depression (sadness),” then the medical personnel need to have some idea of how to help a person. There are various types of depression. So for a first episode with a person with somewhat normal problems in life, the treatment may be talk therapy combined with teaching the person new ways of coping with life and understanding their problems, helping keep them on track (i.e. not skipping work) and so forth.

Someone else with a history of depression, that also experiences psychotic features and presented to the doctors as an emergency because they have just attempted suicide… well that person would likely get talk therapy, learn behavioural and thought techniques (called cognitive behavioural therapy) and likely prescribed some antidepressant medication.

So all in all, the term “clinical depression” is meant to help the medical people to identify, classify and treat people with this mental illness.

I hope this helps, good luck.

Answer by Chris
Here, this survey will help you discern: http://mental.healthguru.com/survey/depression-and-daily-life-survey/0

It means that you are diagnosed by a doctor and should seek treatment.

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