PSYCO239 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Brodmann Area 25, Major Depressive Disorder, Major Depressive Episode
Document Summary
Depression is a low, sad state in which life seems dark and its challenges overwhelming. Mania is the opposite of depression, and a state of breathless euphoria, or at least frenzied energy in which people may have an exaggerated belief that the world is theirs for their taking. 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. In comparison, those with bipolar disorders have periods of mania that alternate with periods of depression. Unipolar mania is when someone only experiences mania, but this uncommon. The economic costs of depressive and bipolar disorders amount to many billions of dollars each year. Unipolar depression: normal dejection is seldom severe enough to influence daily functioning significantly or persist very long.
