What is clinical depression?

A depressive illness is a "whole body" disorder, involving one's physiology, biochemistry, mood, thoughts and behavior. It affects the way you eat and sleep, the way you think and feel about yourself, others and the world.

What is the difference between clinicaldepression and a passing blue mood?

Clinical depression is not a passing blue mood or a sign of personal weakness. Subtle changes in the brain's chemistry can create a terrible malaise in the body-mind-spirit that can affect every dimension of your being.

How common is depression?

Depression is called the "common cold" of mental illness, not because its symptoms are mild but because the disease is so widespread across cultures. It is the most diagnosed mental health disorder in the United States, among the most debilitating, and the most lethal (15 percent of all untreated clinical depressions result in suicide). At any given moment, somewhere between 15 and 20 million Americans are suffering from depressive disorders, and about one in five will develop the illness at some point during their lifetimes.

Who gets depressed?

Depression does not discriminate among its victims-it affects all age groups, all economic groups, and all gender and ethnic categories. While the average age of onset was once a person's mid-thirties, it is now moving towards adolescence and even early childhood. Although depression has become the malaise of our times, it has plagued humankind since antiquity. King Saul of the Bible (who needed David's music to soothe his despondency) was a classic depressive. The Greeks were the first to understand the biological nature of depression and gave it the name "melancholia" (from the roots "melaina chole", meaning "black bile").