Depressive Disorders: Major Depressive Disorder
Alaina Jones
DST 315: Special Research Topic
Dr. Kate Rousmaniere
January 20, 2023
Depressive Disorders: Major Depressive Disorder Depression is a common disorder many people suffer from. According to Hope for Depression, depression affects 18 million people in the United States and “is the number one cause of disability worldwide” ("Hope for depression | Facts & research about depression in the US," 2021). There are lots of ways to describe depression, and it tends to be different with every person who has it. Hope for Depression defines depression as “a serious medical condition that is associated with symptoms such as melancholy, loss of pleasure, loss of energy,
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I have personally seen the effects that depression has on people, but I never fully understood it myself. It wasn’t until this year where somebody’s depression disorder started to affect me and I saw both the mild and severe effects. I wanted to learn more about this illness so I am able to better understand what these people are going through in order to act as a better support system for them. There are multiple different kinds of depressive disorders; major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, bipolar disorder, adjustment disorder with depressive mood, seasonal affective disorder, and depressive disorders due to another medical condition. Major depressive disorder is the most common type of depressive disorder. The Anxiety & Depression Association of America states that to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder you must have five of nine symptoms, of which one of them must be extreme sadness or extreme loss of interest in activities. These symptoms must also be happening for two weeks or more and affecting the person’s functioning ("What is depression?," …show more content…
Society wasn’t always accepting and supportive of depression and other mental illnesses. A lot of people hide their depression because other people may think they are weak, and they don't want anybody to change their perceptions of them. This connects with the way people with disabilities were seen as and treated that Katherine Castles’ reading, “Nice, Average Americans” describes. Castles’ reading talks about how a family with a person who has a disability was hidden from the public or seen as an abnormal family (Castles, 2004). This shows that both parts of the connection were afraid of society and the way that people would view them if they found out about their disability or