It's a condition that affects the entire individual, including the mind, mood, and body. It can cause tremendous anguish for both the patient and those who care about him. One study found that patients with depressive symptoms felt significantly worse and experienced more limitations than patients with hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, or gastrointestinal disorders. Only patients with angina or advanced heart disease had more difficulty with physical functioning, and none had worse social functioning.
Physicians use checklists like the following to evaluate a patient.
A diagnosis of depression is made if the first two major symptoms on the list below have been present nearly every day for the past two weeks, along with two or more of the other symptoms on the list. Depressed people are nearly always sad, blue, or worried, although irritability is also common. Anxiety, a sense of dread that something unspecified but terrible is going to happen, often accompanies such a mood. Depressed people may also have difficulties with concentration, memory, and making decisions. People who feel that life is just no longer worth living often have thoughts of suicide.