Depression is one of the most common disorders of modern life and is believed to be increasing.
In the past, depression was classified into two groups: endogenous, or coming from within, and exogenous, or coming from without. This latter form was also called reactive depression and was usually associated with loss.
Most doctors now think of depression as one illness.
The classification of psychiatric illnesses is always difficult. We are all individuals with our own unique personality, habits and attitudes, so when we suffer emotional disorders they are likely to be as individual as the people who suffer them. Depression is not merely a lowering of mood.
Many refuse to accept they are depressed because they do not feel sad. Sadness, unhappiness and a feeling of depression are normal emotions. Like anxiety they may affect us all at different times.
They become abnormal only when they are inappropriate to the precipitating factors or if they become so severe as to interfere with our normal life.
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