DEPRESSION  DEFINITION, HISTORY OF VIEWS, RECOGNITION

Abstract

The concept of depression includes clinical conditions whose main disorder concerns mood or affect. Traditionally, this group includes depressive disorders, mania and submaniacal states, and anxiety disorders. A light form of depression is often unrecognized. The person feels chronic fatigue, weariness and discouragement to life. Depression caused by reactive factors is manifested by a smaller number of psychosomatic symptoms. According to the WHO (World Health Organization) report, by 2020 depression may become the second largest health risk after cardiovascular disease. The clinical picture of depression is dominated primarily by the depressed mood, which is felt by the patient as a state of gloom, resignation, and sadness. The patient is unable to experience joy, happiness and satisfaction. Anhedonia appears, or inability to feel any pleasures. A separate problem is the recognition of depression in the elderly age, when symptoms characteristic to depression are very often considered a normal manifestation of the body aging or as an inherent element of the somatic disease. Currently, it is estimated that as many as 40% of cases of depression in people over 65 remain undiagnosed.