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When used to describe a mood, depression refers to feelings of sadness,
despair, and discouragement. As such, depression may be a normal feeling state.
The overt manifestations are highly variable and may be culture specific.
Depression may be a symptom seen in a variety of mental or physical disorders, a
syndrome of associated symptoms secondary to an underlying disorder, or a
specific mental disorder. Slowed thinking, decreased pleasure, decreased
purposeful physical activity, guilt, and hopelessness, and disorders of eating
and sleeping may be seen in the depressive syndrome. DSM-IV classifies
depression by severity, recurrence, and association with hypomania or mania.
Other categorizations divide depression into reactive and endogenous depressions
on the basis of precipitants or symptom clusters. Depression in children may be
indicated by a refusal to go to school, anxiety, excessive reaction to
separation from parental figures, antisocial behavior, and somatic complaints.
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