characteristics of depression

Question 1

what are the categories of depression and depressive disorders recognised by the DSM-5?

Answer 1

• major depressive disorder: severe but often short-term depression
• persistent depressive disorder: long-term or recurring depression, including sustained major depression and what used to be called dysthymia
• disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: childhood temper tantrums
• premenstrual dysphoric disorder: disruption to mood prior to and / or during menstruation

Question 2

what are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

Answer 2

• altered activity levels
• disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
• aggression and self-harm

Question 3

behavioural characteristics of depression: low activity levels

Answer 3

• typically, people with depression have reduced energy levels, making them lethargic
• this has a knock-on effect, with people tending to withdraw form work, education and social life
• in extreme cases, the person may not be able to get out of bed

Question 4

behavioural characteristics of depression: high activity levels

Answer 4

• depression can lead to psychomotor agitation, which is the opposite of lethargy
• agitated individuals struggle to relax and may end up pacing up and down a room

Question 5

behavioural characteristics of depression: disruption to sleep behaviour

Answer 5

• depression is associated with changes to sleeping behaviour
• a person may experience reduced sleep (insomnia), particularly premature waking
• a person may also have an increased need for sleep (hypersomnia)

Question 6

behavioural characteristics of depression: disruption to eating behaviour

Answer 6

• similarly to sleeping behaviours, appetite and eating may increase or decrease
• this leads to weight gain or loss

Question 7

behavioural characteristics of depression: aggression

Answer 7

• people with depression are often irritable, and in some cases they can become verbally or physically aggressive
• this can have serious knock-on effects on many aspects of their life
  > eg. someone experiencing depression might display verbal aggression by ending a relationship or quitting a job

Question 8

behavioural characteristics of depression: self-harm

Answer 8

• depression can also lead to physical aggression directed against the self
• this includes self-harm, often in the form of cutting, or suicide attempts

Question 9

what are the emotional characteristics of depression?

Answer 9

• lowered mood
• anger
• lowered self-esteem

Question 10

emotional characteristics of depression: lowered mood

Answer 10

• there is more to clinical depression than having a lowered mood or feeling sad
• lowered mood is still a defining emotional element of depression but it is more pronounced than in the daily kind of experience of feeling lethargic and sad
• people with depression often describe themselves as ‘worthless’ and ‘empty’

Question 11

emotional characteristics of depression: anger

Answer 11

• the experience more negative emotions than positive ones is not limited to sadness
• people with depression also frequently experience anger, sometimes extreme anger
• this can be directed at the self or others
• on occasion, such emotions lead to the aggressive or self-harming behaviour

Question 12

emotional characteristics of depression: lowered self-esteem

Answer 12

• self-esteem is the emotional experience of how much we like ourselves
• people with depression tend to report reduced self-esteem ie. like themselves less than usual
• this can be quite extreme, with some people with depression describing a sense of self-loathing ie. hating themselves

Question 13

what is the cognitive aspect of depression concerned with?

Answer 13

• the ways in which people process information
• people experiencing depression or who have experienced depression tend to process information about several aspects of the world quite differently from the ‘normal’ ways that people without depression think

Question 14

what are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

Answer 14

• poor concentration
• attending to and dwelling on the negative
• absolutist thinking

Question 15

cognitive characteristics of depression: poor concentration

Answer 15

• depression is associated with poor levels of concentration
• the person may find themselves unable to stick with a task as they usually would, or they might find it hard to make decisions that they would normally find straightforward
• poor concentration and poor decision-making are likely to interfere with the individuals’ work

Question 16

cognitive characteristics of depression: attending to and dwelling on the negative

Answer 16

• when experiencing a depressive episode, people are inclined to pay more attention to negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives
• people with depression also have a bias towards recalling unhappy events rather than happy ones
  > this is the opposite bias that most people have when not depressed

Question 17

cognitive characteristics of depression: absolutist thinking

Answer 17

• most situations are not all-good or all-bad, but when a person is depressed they tend to think in these terms
• this is sometimes called ‘black-and-white thinking’
• this means that when a situation is unfortunate they tend to see it as an absolute disaster