AQA A Level Psychology复习笔记4.3.1 Characteristics of Depression

• Depression is a mood disorder, where the suffering experiences low mood and low energy levels.
• All forms of depressive disorders are characterised by changes in mood or loss of interest in activities that were once found to be pleasurable
• This must be for no less than two weeks
• The DSM-5 recognised the following categories of depressive disorders:
  • Major depressive disorder: Severe but often short-term depression
  • Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Childhood tantrums
  • Persistent depressive disorder: Long-term, reoccurring depression, including sustained major depression
  • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: Disruption of mood before and/or during menstruation

Symptoms of depression can be characterised by three areas:

Behavioural characteristics

• The shift in activity levels: This can be both an increase in activity such as restlessness or a decrease, where the person withdraws from the daily life, such as not being able to go to work
• Affected sleep: This can be an increase in the need to sleep and stay in bed or a decrease where they suffer from insomnia or premature waking
• Affected appetite: Again, this can be an increase, where the person eats more and more to comfort eat, or, a decrease, where the person cannot eat and struggles to eat meals
• Aggression and self-harm: Depression can lead the individual to be aggressive with themselves and cause self-harm, such as cutting and suicide attempts

Emotional characteristics

• Sadness: The lowered mood is a key defining emotion of depression and can lead the person to feel hopeless
• Anger: People with depression often have angry outbursts; this can be directed at themself or others
• This emotion comes under behavioural characteristics as well as they can cause harm to themselves and others
• Loss of interests: The person suffering from depression may lose all interest in activities or hobbies that once brought them joy, so giving them a lack of control
• Lower self-esteem: A person with depression is likely to have lower self-esteem, with some suffering from self-loathing, E.g. Hating themselves or something in particular about themselves

Cognitive characteristics

• Negative views of the world: The person suffering from depression is likely to think that everything will turn out badly and there is no hope
• Irrational thoughts: Their thoughts and beliefs are not rational and the person suffering from depression will see the world negatively, their thoughts do not accurately reflect reality
• Poor concentration: The person suffering from depression can have poor levels of concentration, where they are unable to stick with a specific task or they find it hard to make decisions
• Negative expectations of themselves: The person suffering holds unrealistic expectations about themselves and their relationships