Depression

Behavioural Characteristics: Activity Levels

Reduced levels of energy, causing them to be lethargic, which can cause disruptions to daily life (e.g. withdrawing from school/work/social life.) Extreme cases: person can’t get out of bed. Opposite effect: psychomotor (patients struggle to relax and are agitated.)

Behavioural Characteristic: Disruption to Eating/Sleeping

A person may experience insomnia, particularly premature waking, or, oppositely, hypersomnia. Appetite may increase or decrease → weight gain/loss respectively.

Behavioural Characteristic: Aggression & Self-Harm

Depressed people are often irritable & can be verbally/physically aggressive. Effects on life: e.g. quitting a job/ending a relationship (verbal aggression.) Can lead to physical aggression e.g. self harm/suicide.

Emotional Characteristic: Low Mood

Clinical depression is more than lowered mood or sadness. It also a prolonged sense of ‘worthlessness’ and ‘emptiness’ as opposed to just lethargic

Emotional Characteristic: Anger

People with depression experience negative emotions far more than positive ones, but negative isn’t limited to sadness. Anger or extreme anger are frequently felt, be it directed at oneself or others. This can lead to aggressive behaviour.

Emotional Characteristic: Lowered Self-Esteem

Self-esteem = emotional experience of how much we like ourselves. People with depression typically have reduced self-esteem; this could be quite extreme: self-loathing.

Cognitive Characteristic: Poor Concentration

Depression is associated with poor concentration as one may find themselves unable to stick to a task or find it hard to make even straightforward decisions. This is likely to interfere with work.

Cognitive Characteristic: Attending to/Dwelling on the Negative

During a depressive episode, people pay more attention to negative aspects of situations and ignore positives. Bias towards recalling unhappy events, which is opposite to those who aren’t depressed.

Cognitive Characteristic: Absolutist Thinking

Situations are usually not all-good/all-bad but a person with depression typically has ‘black-and-white thinking’ which causes them to believe bad situations = absolute disaster.