The signs and symptoms of depression: When do they become a clinical condition that needs medical treatment and/or therapy? For the signs and symptoms of depression to be a clinical condition two important criteria must both be true and 5 out of 9 signs and symptoms of depression must be present.
For the signs and symptoms of depression to have clinical significance these two important criteria must both be true: (1) The signs and symptoms of depression last for several days (at least 2 weeks); (2) Depression symptoms become disruptive to major areas of a person's life; and depression symptons negatively and noticeably impact relationships, work, or school.
Specifically, Major Depressive Disorder, is usually defined as a combination of any five of the following signs and symptoms of depression that persist for more than 2 weeks.
The first five are the obvious physical signs and symptoms of depression: (1) Significant change in weight not due to dieting (weight gain or loss of more than 5% of body weight in a month); (2) Sleep problems nearly every day (excessive sleeping or insomnia); (3) Agitation (irritable attitude and physical tension) or marked slowing of one's thoughts and actions (e.g., much more difficulty getting started on something than usual); (4) Fatigue or loss of energy every day; (5) Diminished ability to think or concentrate or indecisiveness, nearly every day.
The next category of signs and symptoms of depression are more subjective. Think of these depression symptoms as what depression feels like from the inside. These are: (6) Feelings of worthlessness or excessive (or inappropriate) guilt nearly every day; (7) Sad mood most of the day, nearly every day; (8) Noticeable loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities most of every day.
The third group is really just one symptom in a class of it's own. If a person is having thoughts about death that keep returning, this is almost certainly an indicator of clinical depression, whether or not the person can recognize any other signs and symptoms of depression.
It's important to be clear about what "thoughts of death" actually means. Common examples are recurrent images of death (not just fear of dying), recurring thoughts about suicide, frequently imagining one's own death, or an actual suicidal attempt, or just having made plans, or a suicidal gesture (deliberate carelessness in dangerous situations such as intentional reckless driving).
To learn more about the signs and symptoms of depression see Genevieve's article at Irkable.com.
