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bonds, second it increases the ability to confront challenges, avoid dangers, losses,
harms, and third it is the way of communicating a need for help.
4. DEPRESSION AS A MOOD DISORDER
Depression diagnosis is based on the presence of several of the symptoms
that have to last at least over two weeks: depressed mood most of the day; gain or
loss of weight; too little or too much sleep; fatigue; thoughts of death or suicide;
inability to concentrate; and feelings of guilt or worthlessness. But diagnosis based
on these criteria may not distinguish low mood or sadness from a genuine clinical
condition. This has been emphasised by Horwitz and Wakefield (2007).
Recently, Angst et al. (2014) have reviewed the validity and clinical
relevance of the length of depressive syndromes, defined by the presence of 5 or
more of 9 diagnostic symptoms (DSM-IV). The present study found that depressive
syndromes lasting under 2 weeks to be highly prevalent, and those lasting 4+ days
to have equal validity (family history, age of onset, course) and treatment rates to
episodes of 2-4 weeks, suggesting that the criteria of length of duration of
symptoms should be reviewed.
Depression does vary along a continuum from low mood or sadness to
clinical depression. Feeling low or feeling sad is not different from what could be
called a low level of depression. By contrast, severe or clinical depression is very
hard to describe; everything is perceived as being negative, patients believe they
will never recover, and sometimes physical symptoms and suicidal thoughts
appear.
Depression is a disorder of emotion regulation and is sustained by negative
affect. The prevalence of negative affect seems to be disproportionate; 15% of the
US population has had an episode of severe depression. Many other have bad days
when they are worried, sad or angry and are not able to function. Most attempts to
understand this state is often based on the assumption that there is something
wrong with these suffering people (Gotlib & Joormann, 2010).
But a diagnosis of depression requires the presence of either sustained
negative affect or loss of pleasure. Depression not only changes the way we feel, it
also changes how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. Negative views
of the self, the world, and the future, as well as recurrent and uncontrollable
negative thoughts that often revolve around the self, are debilitating symptoms of
depression. Biases in cognitive processes such as attention and memory may not
only be correlates of depressive episodes; they may also play a critical role in
increasing individuals’ vulnerability for the first onset and recurrence of
depression. Depression is characterized by increased elaboration of negative
information, by difficulties disengaging from negative material, and by deficits in
cognitive control when processing negative information.
Cognitive theories of depression posit that people’s thoughts, inferences,
attitudes, and interpretations, and the way in which they attend to and recall
events, can increase their risk for the development and recurrence of depressive
María Inés López-Ibor Alcocer|108
harms, and third it is the way of communicating a need for help.
4. DEPRESSION AS A MOOD DISORDER
Depression diagnosis is based on the presence of several of the symptoms
that have to last at least over two weeks: depressed mood most of the day; gain or
loss of weight; too little or too much sleep; fatigue; thoughts of death or suicide;
inability to concentrate; and feelings of guilt or worthlessness. But diagnosis based
on these criteria may not distinguish low mood or sadness from a genuine clinical
condition. This has been emphasised by Horwitz and Wakefield (2007).
Recently, Angst et al. (2014) have reviewed the validity and clinical
relevance of the length of depressive syndromes, defined by the presence of 5 or
more of 9 diagnostic symptoms (DSM-IV). The present study found that depressive
syndromes lasting under 2 weeks to be highly prevalent, and those lasting 4+ days
to have equal validity (family history, age of onset, course) and treatment rates to
episodes of 2-4 weeks, suggesting that the criteria of length of duration of
symptoms should be reviewed.
Depression does vary along a continuum from low mood or sadness to
clinical depression. Feeling low or feeling sad is not different from what could be
called a low level of depression. By contrast, severe or clinical depression is very
hard to describe; everything is perceived as being negative, patients believe they
will never recover, and sometimes physical symptoms and suicidal thoughts
appear.
Depression is a disorder of emotion regulation and is sustained by negative
affect. The prevalence of negative affect seems to be disproportionate; 15% of the
US population has had an episode of severe depression. Many other have bad days
when they are worried, sad or angry and are not able to function. Most attempts to
understand this state is often based on the assumption that there is something
wrong with these suffering people (Gotlib & Joormann, 2010).
But a diagnosis of depression requires the presence of either sustained
negative affect or loss of pleasure. Depression not only changes the way we feel, it
also changes how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. Negative views
of the self, the world, and the future, as well as recurrent and uncontrollable
negative thoughts that often revolve around the self, are debilitating symptoms of
depression. Biases in cognitive processes such as attention and memory may not
only be correlates of depressive episodes; they may also play a critical role in
increasing individuals’ vulnerability for the first onset and recurrence of
depression. Depression is characterized by increased elaboration of negative
information, by difficulties disengaging from negative material, and by deficits in
cognitive control when processing negative information.
Cognitive theories of depression posit that people’s thoughts, inferences,
attitudes, and interpretations, and the way in which they attend to and recall
events, can increase their risk for the development and recurrence of depressive
María Inés López-Ibor Alcocer|108
