People with depressive disorders suffer only from depression, a pattern called unipolar depression. They have no history of mania and return to a normal or nearly normal mood when their depression lifts.

Symptoms of Unipolar Depression

People in major depressive episode shows following symptoms:

1. For a 2-week period, a person displays an increase in depressed mood for the majority of each day and/or a decrease in enjoyment or interest across most activities for the majority of each day.

2. For the same 2 weeks, the person also experiences at least 3 or 4 of the following symptoms:

•          considerable weight change or appetite change

•          Daily insomnia or hypersomnia

•          Daily agitation or decrease in motor activity Daily fatigue or lethargy

•          Daily feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt Daily reduction in concentration or decisiveness

•          Repeated focus on death or suicide, a suicide plan, or a suicide attempt.

 

Unipolar depression affects five areas of functioning: emotional, motivational, behavioral, cognitive, and physical.

 1. Emotional Symptoms

•          The Most people feel sad, dejected, miserable, empty, humiliated

•          lose their sense of humor

•          report getting little pleasure from anything

•          display anhedonia, an inability to experience any pleasure at all

•          Some experience anxiety, anger, or agitation

 2. Motivational Symptoms

•          lack of drive, initiative, and spontaneity

3. Behavioral Symptoms

•          less active and less productive. They spend more time alone and may stay in bed for long periods. 

•          Move, and speak, more slowly.

4. Cognitive Symptoms

•          people hold extremely negative views of themselves.

•          consider themselves inadequate, undesirable, inferior, perhaps even evil.

•          They also blame themselves for nearly every unfortunate event,

•          they rarely credit themselves for positive achievements.

5. Physical Symptoms

•          headaches, indigestion, constipation, dizzy spells, and general pain

•          many depressions are misdiagnosed as medical problems at first.

•          depressed people eat less, sleep less, and feel more fatigued.