Depressive disorder is not just a passing mood phase and it is not related to low confidence or lack of personal integrity. Depression is not a weakness; it is an illness of the body and the mind that needs a proper treatment like any other disease that can befall a person. Depressive disorder brings about changes in the pattern of thinking, behavior, feeling and the physical attributes of a person.

Types of Depression:
Depression can befall a person in many forms. The depressive disorders are normally differentiated according to the cause of depression, the severity of the symptom and the duration of the symptom of depression. Depressive disorders can be broadly seen under the following heads:

• Major Depression: is a grave depressive disorder that is manifested by a number of symptoms that comes in the way of eating, sleeping and other daily activities. The symptoms are very serious. Though suicidal tendency and history of hospitalization are associated with major depression, you can get the disorder even without such history.
  
  
• Dysthymic Depression: is a moderate or a mild type of depression, where the symptoms are less severe than in a major depression. But the symptoms have high power of resistance and endurance. So, it is hard to get over this disorder and it has chances of developing into major depression in the course of time.
  
  
• Bipolar Depression: is a depressive disorder that is marked with the onset of cyclic (low and high) mood. A person with this disorder experiences sudden mood swings, from manic to depression and vice versa. It develops to serious psychological problems, if left untreated for long.
  
  
• Adjustment Disorder with Depression: is the class of depression that occurs due to some serious crisis in life. When a particular stress or crisis in a person’s life leave a mark that constantly keeps haunting the person, he is under the spell of this depression.
  
  
• Unspecified Depressions: are the depressive disorders that cannot be clubbed under any of the above headings. The symptoms are not intense enough to be classed as major depression. The moderate and chronic depressions that haven’t been classified as Dysthymic depression also come under unspecified depression.

Causes:
In most cases of depression a combination of factors, psychological, biological and environmental have been responsible. Depression runs in the family but there are no certainties that a person, without a family history of depression wouldn’t get the disorder or a person with a history would get it. In fact family problems, relationship break downs, financial crisis, chronic illness, office stress, household pressures and adaptation blues can cause depression.

Symptoms of Depression:
There is a slim chance that two persons with depression would experience the same symptom. The intensity and the duration of depressive symptoms vary in different individuals. The commonly occurring symptoms of depression are:

• Forgetfulness and lack of concentration
• Sleeping disorders like insomnia, sleep break
• Suicidal tendencies
• Recurring headaches and stomach aches, unresponsive to treatment
• Inquietude and agitated state
• Loss of appetite and weight
• Pessimistic and cynical attitude
• Dispirited and melancholic mood
• Fatigue
• Guilty and disinterested temperament

Diagnosis:
A person with depressive disorders should be subjected to physical and psychological evaluations before he is given a proper treatment. Physicians, psychologists and psychiatrist need to study the onset, duration and the severity of the physical symptoms, along with history of drug, substance or alcohol abuse to device the right course of action. Psychological analysis would comprise of mental alertness examination of the person to appraise the mental symptoms.

Treatment:
There are different ways of approach for the treatment of depressive disorders. But one should keep in mind that there is nothing like a single depression medicine, as all the methods of treatment infringe on each other. The three commonly practiced course of depression disorders treatment are:

• Psychotherapy: refers to the psychological assistance rendered to a person in order to overcome depression. In the event of a psychological therapy, a person has to attend counseling sessions to ease the violent and unwavering feelings, negative thoughts and cyclic moods. After counseling, the person is introduced to cognitive therapy, where he is gradually taught to come into terms with all the depressive problems and situations in his life. When a patient shows signs of coping up with the causes of depressions, he enters the last phase of treatment where he is placed under behavioral therapy along with problem solving therapy. The duration of the therapy session and the number of sessions may differ.
  
  
• Herbal Therapy: is the latest addition in the field of depression treatment. St.John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a popular herb that has been widely used as a treatment for mild and moderate cases of depressive disorders.
  
  
• Medication: can reduce the symptoms of depression to a great extent. Some of the popular antidepressants for the treatment of depression are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Tricyclics, the monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and mood-stabilizing anticonvulsant