Note Card #1

Byck, Robert. "depression." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2008. Grolier Online. 22 Sep. 2008 http://gme.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0083450-0.

-Depression is an uncomfortable mental state that may be characterized by such adjectives as blue, dejected, or discouraged.
-Major depressions occur in 10–20% of the world's population in the course of a lifetime.
-Depression is defined by its symptoms.

Here is The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual f Mental Disorders lists:
poor appetite and significant weight loss, or the reverse;
insomnia, or increased sleep;
agitation, or retardation, of movement and thought;
loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities or decrease in sexual drive;
fatigue and loss of energy;
feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach, or excessive or inappropriate guilt;
diminished ability to concentrate, or indecisiveness; and
recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts.

-Depression is treated by psychotherapy, drugs, or electroconvulsive therapy, and often by some combination of these treatments.
-In psychiatric usage, disorders of mood are called affective or mood disorders.