Types and Symptoms of Depression

While there are several types of depression, all share common symptoms.  The number and severity of symptoms vary from person to person, thus helping to determine the type of depression that affects a particular person.

• Major Depression:  If an individual has several depression symptoms that are intense and last for at least two weeks, the affliction could be classified as major depression.  Major depression is a very serious condition.  It may occur once in a lifetime, or it may occur repeatedly throughout one's life.   Often, medication and therapy are used to treat major depression.
  
• Dysthymia:  This is a low to moderate level of depression with the same, but less severe, symptoms as major depression.  Dysthymia is chronic and can last for years.   It is treated with medication, therapy, or a combination of the two.  If left untreated, dysthymia lasts longer than major depression.  Some individuals with dysthymia develop a major depression at some time during the course of their depression.
  
• Bipolar Disorder:  Also known as manic depression, bipolar disorder is characterized by periods of high (mania) and low (depressive) mood swings. While depressive periods have similar symptoms to other types of depression, mania symptoms are quite different, and may include euphoria, a false sense of well-being, poor judgment, inappropriate social behavior and an unrealistic view of personal abilities.  Bipolar disorder is more uncommon than the other types of depression.
  
• Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD):  This depression is triggered and turned off by shifts in the length of the day/night cycle.   People who suffer from seasonal depression or seasonal affective disorder are especially sensitive to the diminishing hours of daylight in the late fall or early winter and go into a kind of depressive hibernation. When spring arrives with more daylight hours, their mood enhances; they feel better and start getting their energy back.
  
• Post-Partum Depression:  After childbirth, a woman's body and life change dramatically. As a result, some women become depressed. In rare instances, they have violent thoughts about killing themselves or their babies.  Eighty percent of women experience the baby blues after the birth of a child. This is a completely normal consequence of childbirth. In normal cases, the depression wears off soon after the child birth as the hormonal and psychological systems get back on track. For ten percent of new mothers, however, the blues don't go away. Instead, they develop into post partum depression.  At the extreme, the postpartum depression may lead to dangerous delusions or hallucinations This can occasionally culminate in a tragic episode of suicide and/or infanticide, or both.  If a woman displays signs of post-partum depression, seek immediate, professional help.