During our lives, we tend to experience episodes of stress, unhappiness, besides sadness, or even grief. This may be due to the loss of a loved one or a personal tragedy. Most of us are usually able to cope with all these besides other types of stressful events and are able to return to the normal activities. But in case these feelings of sadness as well as other symptoms make it hard to get through the day, and the symptoms tend to last for more than a couple of weeks, it is known as depression. There are several types of depression.
Major depression refers to a change in mood that may last for weeks or months. It is a severe type of depression, which usually involves an irritable mood besides a loss of interest or pleasure in the daily usual activities. It tends to interfere with one’s normal functioning and also includes physical symptoms. A person may experience just one episode of major depression, or there may be repeated episodes over an individual’s lifetime.
Dysthymia is not as severe as major depression but it tends to go on for a longer period, maybe even several years. Such types of depression include periods of feeling fairly normal between the episodes of low mood. Such symptoms usually do not disrupt one’s normal activities.
Other types of depression include bipolar disorder which involves episodes of depression, alternating with episodes of extreme elation which are also known as mania. This condition is also known by its older name, manic depression. The depression associated with bipolar disorder is also referred to as bipolar depression. In case depression is not associated with bipolar disorder, it will be known as unipolar depression.
Seasonal depressions are the types of depression which medical professionals also call seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. It is a depression which occurs only at a certain time of the year, which is usually winter. This is the time when the number of daylight hours is lower. It is sometimes predictable, but it can be very severe.