WHAT IS DEPRESSION?

"The Common Cold of Mental Health"

Depression has been called “the common cold of mental health” because it is the most frequently encountered mental illness.

Everyone wants to be happy, but many things happen in our lives to make us sad. We all know that everybody feels "down," "blue," "bummed," “hopeless”, or “pessimistic” from time to time.

The term "depression" can mean different things to different people.

Ø     Some may think of depression as a way of describing those times when they are feeling just "a bit flat" or have a touch of "the blues". 

Ø     Others may think of depression more in terms of a serious type of psychological disorder and one that can even become life-threatening. 

Ø     There is a whole range of feelings in between which people describe as "depression" as well.

Thus, generally speaking, the term "depression" covers a broad spectrum of feelings and behaviours -- ranging from the transitory feelings of disappointment, sadness, and pessimism that we all experience at times in our lives to psychotic episodes that are seriously disabling.

There's a difference, though, between the "depression" that most of us talk about when we talk about feeling sad, and the kind of depression that's very serious and sometimes life-threatening.

We'll call the latter as clinical depression (meaning that it's been identified as a real medical problem).

The term "depression" here refers to clinical depression which means that depression is severe enough to require treatment. Suicidal thoughts or fantasies, or a preoccupation with death may become part of the picture, as well.