When do the signs and symptoms of depression become a medical condition that needs treatment? For the signs and symptoms of depression to have clinical significance these two important criteria must both be true:
- The signs and symptoms of depression last for several days (at least 2 weeks)
- Depression symptoms become disruptive to major areas of a person’s life; and depression symptons negatively and noticeably impact relationships, work, or school
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:
- Sad mood most of the day, nearly every day
- Noticeable loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities most of every day
- Significant change in weight not due to dieting (weight gain or loss of more than 5% of body weight in a month)
- Sleep problems nearly every day (excessive sleeping or insomnia)
- 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)
- Fatigue or loss of energy every day
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive (or inappropriate) guilt nearly every day
- Diminished ability to think or concentrate or indecisiveness, nearly every day
- Recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurring thoughts about suicide, or a suicidal gesture (deliberate carelessness in dangerous situations) or an attempt, or specific plans.
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.
With clinical depression, “our brain starts working in a different way and gets stuck in a mode that displays the signs and symptoms of depression,” says Dr. Greg Hamlin who addresses this topic in more depth.
