“Depression”

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”
― Laurel K. Hamilton, Mistral’s Kiss

Depression is that brutal state of mind and body which is not identical even for two individuals birthed by the same parents. A monster that sucks energy, motivation and basically everything that is needed to live a healthy life. Depression can be triggered by different factors based on individual’s personal capacity to perceive and process traumatic events, stressful situations and distressing encounters.

Different individuals exhibit different symptoms therefore the standardized criteria for the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder according to DSM-V ( Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is as followed:

Depression DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria

The DSM-5 outlines the following criterion to make a diagnosis of depression. The individual must be experiencing five or more symptoms during the same 2-week period and at least one of the symptoms should be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

1. Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day.

2. Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day.

3. Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.

4. A slowing down of thought and a reduction of physical movement (observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down.)

5. Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day.

6. Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day.

7. Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day.

8. Recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide.

To receive a diagnosis of depression, these symptoms must cause the individual clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. The symptoms must also not be a result of substance abuse or another medical condition.

Awareness regarding mental health problems is extremely important to understand neglected illnesses like Depression. Mental problems cannot be verbalized, they cannot be accurately made understood and one of the reasons of this drawback is our lack of discussion surrounding these topics and a general lack of appropriate layman vocabulary to verbalize such states of mind.

Any kind of depression is real! It just needs more acceptance, more kindness and more understanding.