Depression is classified as a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of sadness, loss, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities.
It’s also fairly common. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionTrusted Source estimates that 18.5 percent of American adults had symptoms of depression in any given 2-week period in 2019.
Though depression and grief share some features, depression is different from grief felt after losing a loved one or sadness felt after a traumatic life event. Depression usually involves self-loathing or a loss of self-esteem, while grief typically does not.
In grief, positive emotions and happy memories of the deceased typically accompany feelings of emotional pain. In major depressive disorder, the feelings of sadness are constant.
People experience depression in different ways. It may interfere with your daily work, resulting in lost time and lower productivity. It can also influence relationships and some chronic health conditions.
Conditions that can get worse due to depression include: arthritis, asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.
It’s important to realize that feeling down at times is a normal part of life. Sad and upsetting events happen to everyone. But if you’re feeling down or hopeless on a regular basis, you could be dealing with depression.
Depression is considered a serious medical condition that can get worse without proper treatment.
Depression can be more than a constant state of sadness or feeling “blue.”
Major depression can cause a variety of symptoms. Some affect your mood and others affect your body. Symptoms may also be ongoing or come and go.
General signs and symptoms
Not everyone with depression will experience the same symptoms. Symptoms can vary in severity, how often they happen, and how long they last.
If you experience some of the following signs and symptoms of depression nearly every day for at least 2 weeks, you may be living with depression: feeling sad, anxious, or “empty”, feeling hopeless, worthless, and pessimistic, crying a lot, feeling bothered, annoyed, or angry, loss of interest in hobbies and interests you once enjoyed, decreased energy or fatigue, difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions, moving or talking more slowly, difficulty sleeping, early morning awakening, or oversleeping, appetite or weight changes, chronic physical pain with no clear cause that does not get better with treatment (headaches, aches or pains, digestive problems, cramps), thoughts of death, suicide, self-harm, or suicide attempts
Major depression can cause a variety of symptoms. Some affect your mood and others affect your body. Symptoms may also be ongoing or come and go.
