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The Current Status of the Diagnosis of Depression

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Sadness or Depression?

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL,volume 15))

Abstract

The term “depression” is an umbrella that covers a large number of heterogeneous depressive disorders, with symptoms overlapping with other common mental disorders on the one hand, and chronic systemic disease on the other. It covers both disorders that definitely benefit from recognition and treatment by the clinician, and those that can be thought of as homeostatic reactions to adverse life events, which will remit spontaneously whether or not they are detected. The former group includes depressions following severe loss events in vulnerable individuals.

Typical bereavement reactions can readily be distinguished from depressive disorders, and requires only supportive care from clinicians. However, bereavement can also precipitate a depressive disorder in vulnerable people which most definitely benefits from treatment, and has additional features not usually seen in the more usual bereavement reactions. Vulnerability factors include genes, early maternal attachment, adverse childhood experiences and personality factors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatry Research Trust, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

    David Goldberg

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  1. David Goldberg
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Correspondence to David Goldberg .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Silver School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry, New York University, New York, New York, USA

    Jerome C. Wakefield

  2. Department of Philosophy, SPH Laboratory, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Pessac, Gironde, France

    Steeves Demazeux

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Goldberg, D. (2016). The Current Status of the Diagnosis of Depression. In: Wakefield, J., Demazeux, S. (eds) Sadness or Depression?. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7423-9_2

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