Lesson 8 The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of depression

Question 1

What is depression

Answer 1

is a mood disorder characterised by feelings of despondency and hopelessness. There are two types unipolar and bipolar

Question 2

The diagnosis of depression

Answer 2

1. At least 5 symptoms must be present every day for two weeks
2. The five symptoms must include sadness or loss of interest and pleasure in normal activities
3. The person will show impairment in general functioning that hasn’t been caused by other events

Question 3

Behavioural characteristics of depression (actions)

Answer 3

Shift in energy levels - Depressed people might have reduced amounts of energy resulting in fatigue, lethargy and high levels of inactivity. This might lead them to withdraw from work, education and their social life. Some depressed people might have high amounts of nervous energy whereby they become agitated and restless, this is called psychomotor agitation. They may pace around, wring their hands and tear at their skin.

Social impairment - There are reduced levels of social interactions with friends and relations. The person may distance themselves from friends and family.

Weight changes - Significant increase or decrease in weight is associated with depression. Some people might eat a great deal when they are depressed and therefore put on a great deal of weight. Other people have a reduced appetite and eat very little, and therefore lose a great deal of weight

Poor personal hygiene - Depressed people often have reduced incidence of washing and wearing clean clothes etc.

Sleep pattern disturbance - Depression is often characterised by constant insomnia whereby they have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep and they might wake up very early. Alternatively they might require large amounts of sleep and they might oversleep (hypersomnia)

Aggression and self harm - Sufferers of depression are often irritable and they can become physically or verbally aggressive, for instance quitting their job impulsively. They might also be physically aggressive in the form of self harming, such as cutting themselves or attempting suicide.

Question 4

The emotional characteristics of depression (feelings)

Answer 4

Loss of enthusiasm - Depression is often characterised by a lessened concern with and/or lack of pleasure in daily activities such as hobbies or things that the person used to enjoy.

Constant depressed mood - A key characteristic is the ever present and overwhelming feelings of sadness/hopelessness and feeling empty.

Worthlessness - Sufferers of depression often have constant feelings of reduced worth and/or inappropriate feelings of guilt. They might also experience very low levels of self esteem.

Anger - The person might feel anger which might be directed towards others or turned inwards towards the self, which could result in self harm. Depression may arise from feelings of being hurt and wishing to retaliate

Question 5

The cognitive characteristics of depression (thinking)

Answer 5

Delusions - Some depressive patients will experience delusions, generally concerning guilt, punishment, personal inadequacy or disease. Some will also experience hallucinations, which can be auditory, visual, olfactory (smell), and haptic (touch)

Reduced concentrations - There can be difficulty in paying/maintaining attention, and the person might feel that they cannot stay on task for long periods of time. They might have slower thought processes than normal and difficulty making decisions (even if the decision seems very simple). This can interfere with the person’s ability to do their job.

Thoughts of death - Depressed people will have constant thoughts of death and/or suicide. They might believe that the world would be a better place without them, and they might make plans to end their life

Poor memory - Depressed people will have trouble retrieving memories and their memory might be very poor in general.

Negative thinking - Depressed people often have a negative view of the world and they expect things to turn out badly rather than well. They tend to have negative expectations about their lives and relationships, and the world in general. This leads to the self fulfilling prophecy whereby if you expect negative things to happen, then they probably will. Positive factors in their life will be ignored and they have a cognitive bias.

Absolutist thinking - Most situations are not all bad or all good. Sufferers of depression tend to think in this format, and they usually think about events in absolutist terms, “it was a complete disaster” rather than, “that was good, but there are a few things that could have been better.”