Two symptoms to watch out for, and that doctors watch out for, are a loss of pleasure in daily activities and continuous feelings of hopelessness and sadness. The three most common types of depression are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder. Major depression may have many symptoms that affect a person s ability to carry out necessary everyday activities such as eating, working and sleeping. Other once-pleasurable activities seem insurmountable. A person can usually go on from day to day, but may have a disabling episode one or two times in his or her life.
Dysthymia is long term or chronic depressive symptoms.
These symptoms may not be disabling, but usually prevent the person from felling good and functioning well. Major depressive episodes may be experienced by people with dysthymia. Bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic-depression, is often a chronic condition. It causes the afflicted to experience cycles of depression, mania, lethargy, and exuberant happiness. These mood changes are normally rapid and dramatic.