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e. Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity. [3] It affects about 3.5% of the global population, or about 280 million people of all ages (as of 2020). [4] Depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being. [5]
Although melancholia remained the dominant diagnostic term, depression gained increasing currency in medical treatises and was a synonym by the end of the century; German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin may have been the first to use it as the overarching term, referring to different kinds of melancholia as depressive states. [15]
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder [ 9 ] characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introduced by a group of US clinicians in the mid-1970s, [ 10 ] the term was adopted by the American ...
A major depressive episode (MDE) is a period characterized by symptoms of major depressive disorder. Those affected primarily exhibit a depressive mood for at least two weeks or more, and a loss of interest or pleasure in everyday activities. Other symptoms can include feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, anxiety, worthlessness, guilt ...
Biology of depression. Appearance. Scientific studies have found that different brain areas show altered activity in humans with major depressive disorder (MDD), [ 1 ] and this has encouraged advocates of various theories that seek to identify a biochemical origin of the disease, as opposed to theories that emphasize psychological or ...
PHQ-9. The nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a depressive symptom scale and diagnostic tool introduced in 2001 to screen adult patients in primary care settings. The instrument assesses for the presence and severity of depressive symptoms and a possible depressive disorder. [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ] The PHQ-9 is a component of the larger ...
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis , it is called mania ; if it is less severe and does not significantly affect ...
Multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic demyelinating disease in which the myelin sheaths of cells in the brain and spinal cord are irreparably damaged. Symptoms of depression are very common in patients at all stages of the disease and may be exacerbated by medical treatments, notably interferon beta-1a.