J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2008 Jan;47(1):3-10.

What is Depression? From the Viewpoint of Modern Psychiatry

• Lee SH
• Kim B
• Kim CH

Abstract

Depression is heterogeneous in terms of its clinical aspect, diagnosis, cause, neurobiology, drug response and course. Because of the heterogeneity of major depressive disorder (MDD), DSM-IV classified MDD into various subtypes, such as melancholic, atypical, severe with psychotic feature, severe without psychotic feature, with postpartum onset, with catatonic feature, early-onset, late-onset, chronic, single or recurrent. In spite of the efforts of many clinicians trying to classify and explain the nature of MDD, depression is still qualified as a syndrome rather than a disease. When we see patients with MDD in clinical setting, we still use several subtypes of classical classification in order to comprehend the patient better. Psychiatrist should treat the patients with MDD according to their specific features and integrate the various information from them. For these reasons, depression is regarded as a complicated disease to identify and treat. Therefore, mental health professionals, especially psychiatrists should be trained on these diverse characteristics of MDD and it is recommended that the treatment of depression should be referred to a psychiatrist.

Keyword

Depression; Modern psychiatry; Diversity

MeSH Terms

Depression
Depressive Disorder, Major
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Humans
Mental Health
Neurobiology
Population Characteristics
Postpartum Period
Psychiatry