Overview
- What is depression?
- Epidemiology: Depression as a public health problem
- Etiology: Causes and processes leading to depression
- Prevention and treatment
- Psychological treatments of depression
- Conclusions
What is depression?
Depression on a continuum:
- ‘’Normal’’ state on the one side, on the other side people suffering (suicidal
intentions, not being able doing anything)
- Being sad / gloomy
- Not a clear threshold for depression
- The need for a ‘’threshold’’ for clinical relevance
Diagnosis of Major depressive disorder
One out of two core symptoms (2 weeks)
- Depressed mood
- Loss of interest
And at least 4 other symptoms:
- Problems with appetite
- Problems with sleeping
- Agitation or inhibition
- Tired, loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness, blame
- Loss of focus, indecisiveness
- Thinking about death
And significantly suffering and/or impairment in social or professional functioning
→ depression is very heterogeneous
Important mood disorders
, Major depressive disorder:
- At least 2 weeks, at least 5 symptoms
Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia)
- At least 2 years, 2-4 symptoms
Minor depression
- At least 2 weeks, 2-4 symptoms
Bipolar disorder
- Additional manic episodes
Differentiating depression
- Unipolar vs. bipolar
- Major depression vs. manic disorders → different treatments
- Psychotic depression vs. schizophrenia
- Depression vs. substance use
- Comorbidity between those 2 are very high
- Depression vs. grief
- Criteria are overlapping quite a bit, but important to distinguish between those
Depression and suicide
- Depression is the most important predictor of suicide
- But the majority of people with depression are not suicidal
- Suicidality is associated with most mental disorders
- Suicidality can best be seen as a separate problem that often co-occurs with
depression
- Suicidality is an important clinical indicator for treatment
Epidemiology
- 4.4-5% of the world’s population had MDD (major depressive disorder) in past 12
months
- What is depression?
- Epidemiology: Depression as a public health problem
- Etiology: Causes and processes leading to depression
- Prevention and treatment
- Psychological treatments of depression
- Conclusions
What is depression?
Depression on a continuum:
- ‘’Normal’’ state on the one side, on the other side people suffering (suicidal
intentions, not being able doing anything)
- Being sad / gloomy
- Not a clear threshold for depression
- The need for a ‘’threshold’’ for clinical relevance
Diagnosis of Major depressive disorder
One out of two core symptoms (2 weeks)
- Depressed mood
- Loss of interest
And at least 4 other symptoms:
- Problems with appetite
- Problems with sleeping
- Agitation or inhibition
- Tired, loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness, blame
- Loss of focus, indecisiveness
- Thinking about death
And significantly suffering and/or impairment in social or professional functioning
→ depression is very heterogeneous
Important mood disorders
, Major depressive disorder:
- At least 2 weeks, at least 5 symptoms
Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia)
- At least 2 years, 2-4 symptoms
Minor depression
- At least 2 weeks, 2-4 symptoms
Bipolar disorder
- Additional manic episodes
Differentiating depression
- Unipolar vs. bipolar
- Major depression vs. manic disorders → different treatments
- Psychotic depression vs. schizophrenia
- Depression vs. substance use
- Comorbidity between those 2 are very high
- Depression vs. grief
- Criteria are overlapping quite a bit, but important to distinguish between those
Depression and suicide
- Depression is the most important predictor of suicide
- But the majority of people with depression are not suicidal
- Suicidality is associated with most mental disorders
- Suicidality can best be seen as a separate problem that often co-occurs with
depression
- Suicidality is an important clinical indicator for treatment
Epidemiology
- 4.4-5% of the world’s population had MDD (major depressive disorder) in past 12
months
