Depression - types, causes + symptoms

Depressed mood or depression

Everyone goes through tough times at different points in their lives and feels down or sad. The term depression is sometimes used to describe the normal sadness or low mood people feel if they've had to cope with a stressful event or problem, such as the death of a loved one or a relationship break-up.

Depression is also the name for an illness that is more severe than normal sadness, lasts longer than two weeks, and interferes with other parts of your life, such as work, school or relationships.

What causes depression or a depressed mood? 

Sometimes depression or a depressed mood may have no apparent cause and sometimes it may be caused by a number of factors (by themselves or in combination), such as:

• Genetics or a history of depression within your family. 
• Biochemical - In normal brain functioning, neurotransmitters (which regulate mood) jump from one nerve cell to the next, with the signal being as strong in the second and subsequent cells as it was in the first. For people who have depression, the mood regulating neurotransmitters fail to function normally, meaning that the signal is either depleted or disrupted before passing on to the next nerve cell, thus resulting in a lowering of your mood. In non-melancholic depression, it's likely that the transmission of serotonin (which improves mood) is reduced or less active, whereas in people with melancholic and psychotic depression, the neurotransmitters noradrenaline and dopamine are more likely to have failed or be functioning abnormally. 
• A stressful event or chain of events such as a family break-up, abuse, ongoing bullying at school, rape, a death, a relationship break up, family conflict.
• Personality style - Certain personality types are more at risk of depression than others. This includes people who tend to be anxious, have low self-esteem, are perfectionists or are shy.
• Having a baby (called post-natal depression).
• Other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

Symptoms of depression or a depressed mood

People experience depression or a depressed mood in different ways, depending on the type of depression and individual differences. Common symptoms across all types of depression include:

Mood

• feeling sad, moody or crap
• feeling hopeless or helpless 
• feeling numb or empty
• feeling anxious 
• feeling guilty and blaming yourself
• unable to feel good or enjoy things that you do normally.

Thinking

• being overly self-critical
• believing you can't cope and that things are out of your control
• difficulty making decisions and thinking clearly
• poor concentrating and memory
• thinking about suicide or ending your life.

Behaviour

• lack of motivation and energy
• crying a lot
• losing interest in activities you usually enjoy 
• withdrawing from your friends and family or being overly dependent on them
• increased use of alcohol or other drugs
• losing your temper more than usual.

Physical  

• loss of appetite or over-eating
• changes in sleep patterns - difficulty getting to sleep, waking up in the middle of the night or sleeping for longer
• headaches or stomach aches 
• feeling physically sick
• lack of interest in sex.

Everyone experiences some of these feelings or behaviours from time to time. However, for people experiencing depression the feelings might be more severe and they do not go away over time.

If you are concerned that you are experiencing depression it is a good idea to see your local doctor or a psychologist. They should be able to help you make a diagnosis and provide you with the support for managing your depression.

Types of depression

There are different types of depression, each of them have their own symptoms, causes and treatments.

Non-melancholic depression

Non-melancholic depression (also called major or clinical depression) is the most common type of depression and affects one in four females and one in six males over their lifetime.

Non-melancholic means that the main cause of the depression is psychological factors, not biological factors. This type of depression usually occurs in response to a specific or series of stressful events and usually lifts when the stressful event is resolved or removed, or through learning and developing helpful coping strategies.

Non-melancholic depression can be hard to diagnose because it doesn't have the defining characteristics of other types of depression (such as impaired mental functioning, physical disturbance, or psychotic features).

Symptoms may include:

• A depressed mood or sadness for more than two weeks.
• Loss of pleasure, interest and productivity in most things, including social activities, relationships and work, school or uni.
• Constant low mood over the course of the day.

Non-melancholic depression responds well to different sorts of treatments, including psychotherapies, counselling and antidepressants, depending on the original cause and your personality.

Melancholic depression

Melancholic depression is a more severe depression than non-melancholic depression and is primarily caused by biological factors. It is an uncommon type of depression, affecting only around 1-2% of the population and roughly the same number of males and females. It can occur on its own (unipolar) or as part of bipolar disorder.

Symptoms include: 

• slowed or agitated physical movements 
• slowed or impaired mental (cognitive) processing, e.g. poor concentration and memory
• insomnia or disrupted of sleep
• loss of appetite and energy
• mood and energy worse in the morning (e.g. extreme difficulty in getting out of bed or leaving the house)
• loss of pleasure, interest and productivity in most things, including social activities, relationships and work, school or uni. 

This type of depression responds best to physical treatments, such as antidepressants, and does not usually go away on its own.

Psychotic depression

Psychotic depression is a severe form of depression and is less common than either melancholic or non-melancholic depression.

The defining symptoms are:

• more severely depressed mood than other types of depression
• hallucinations (e.g. hearing voices) 
• delusions (e.g. extreme or false beliefs of guilt, shame, poverty or illness)
• more severe psychomotor disturbances.

Psychotic depression does not usually go away on its own. It responds only to physical treatments (such as antidepressant drugs).

Depression + wanting to end your life 

For some people, a symptom of depression may include the feeling of wanting to end their life.

If you are feeling suicidal, it's important that you keep yourself safe - check out the Wanting to end your life fact sheet for more information on what you can do to keep yourself safe.

Try to remember that thoughts about taking your life are just thoughts. They do not mean you have to act on them, no matter how overwhelming they are or how often you have them. They also don't mean that you will always have those thoughts.

Everyone goes through tough times and experience times when things seem hopeless. It is possible to get through these times by creating your own 'tool kit' of coping strategies, which you can use when you're feeling suicidal or when you feel a hopeless outlook on life. 

If you know someone is having suicidal thoughts, encourage them to seek help. Let them know that if you think they will hurt themself then you will have to tell someone. If they are scared about telling someone else you can offer to go with them for support. Check out the If your friend threatens to take their own life fact sheet for more info.

Getting help for depression

There are a number of things you can do to help you manage your depression. Try to remember that this may take time and there may be good days and not so good days. For more information about some of the ways to help manage depression, you may want to check out the Depression - management and treatment options fact sheet.