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Depression - The Different Types
Relative Depression
This is an extension of normal upset following an unhappy event in a person’s life, such as the death of a close relative or friend, marriage break-up or loss of employment. Typically some experiencing depression will feel low, anxious and often will be angry or irritable. For some people reactive depression can fellow even more minor set-backs, as the individual’s personality leaves them particularly vulnerable to disappointments.
Unipolar or Endogenous Depression
While this is primarily a biological or inherited condition, disappointment will often provoke its onset. The typical symptoms are those outlined in the list of symptoms above, where there is extreme tiredness, slowed thinking, impaired concentration, waking during the night and tending to feel worse in the early morning.
Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depressive Illness
The symptoms of the depressed phase of bipolar disorder are identical to those of unipolar depression, but in addition, there are also episodes of elation or mania with which the depression alternates. Although elation is usually considered a pleasurable experience, it often has a devastating effect on a person’s life.
Symptoms of elation or mania:
- Feeling, enthusiastic, excited, angry, irritable or depressed
- Great energy, never felt as well, over-talkative or over-active
- Reduced need for sleep and marked difficulty in getting off to sleep
- Racing thoughts, pressure in the head, indecisive, jumping from one thing to another, poor concentration
- Increased interest in pleasurable activities, new adventures, sex, alcohol, street drugs, religion, music or art
- Excessive and unrealistic belief in one’s ability, or having grandiose plans
- Never tiring, being unaware of the physical symptoms of the illness such as asthma, having muscle tension at the back of the head or round the shoulders
- Thinking that one can live forever, taking reckless physical risks or, if angry or distressed, feeling suicidal
If five or more of the above symptoms are present for more than two weeks, it is probably a manic episode.
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