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Types
Different types of depression
Depression can vary from person to person in its severity and associated symptoms. In addition to mild or severe depression, we also distinguish different types of depression, such as chronic depression, manic depression or winter depression.
When are you chronically depressed?
Chronic depression
Chronic depression is a depressive disorder in which you suffer from depressive symptoms for an extended period of time. We speak of chronic depression when you continue to suffer from these symptoms for two years or more. During this period you suffer from a dejected feeling and lack of energy and pleasure. Also, often your sleep rhythm and appetite are out of balance and you experience feelings of hopelessness.
With chronic depression, we also distinguish between major and minor depression. When you suffer from severe chronic depression, you suffer from depressive symptoms throughout the entire period. In less severe chronic depression, your symptoms can sometimes be less noticeable for a few weeks. Typically, however, you are depressed more days than not.
A person who is chronically depressed is also at higher risk of developing other disorders. The chance of relapse is also higher than with "normal" depression. A sustainable treatment program with relapse prevention is therefore of great importance.
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Dysthyme disorder or chronic depression
Dysthymic disorder is often described as a lighter form of chronic depression. With dysthymia, you experience long-term depressive symptoms. This is called persistent depressive disorder. The symptoms are often less severe than in major depression, but they are often long-lasting. Because the symptoms are often long-lasting, people with dysthymia are also often more likely to develop a personality disorder, anxiety disorder or addiction.
In dysthymic depression, you often suffer from depressive symptoms for more than two years. You mostly suffer from a gloomy mood and you are often tired. The symptoms are usually less noticeable. Similar to chronic depression, you may suffer from these symptoms for longer periods of time interspersed with periods when you suffer less from depressive symptoms. These symptoms can also sometimes worsen temporarily in the form of depressive episodes.
Learn more about inpatient treatment for your depression at U-center.
Bipolar disorder
Manic depressive
Manic depression is also known as bipolar disorder. Manic depression is characterized by marked mood swings, with periods of euphoria alternating with feelings of despair. This mood disorder recurs frequently and is interspersed with periods of mania, hypomania and depression.
Peaks and valleys
When you are manic depressive, you may feel very energetic and overconfident during your manic period. During this period you are hard to inhibit, a lot more active than usual and sleep very little. This alternates with depressive episodes. On the contrary, during this period you feel dejected, very tired and suffer from negative thoughts. These ups and downs are interrupted by periods when you are balanced. How long this period lasts varies from person to person.
Hypomanic period
During a hypomanic period, you experience similar characteristics as during a manic episode, but less extreme. As a result, your emotions are fairly stable, and under positive circumstances you may even perform better than normal.
Psychotic symptoms
With manic-depressive disorder, you can also experience psychotic symptoms, which cause a person to lose contact with reality. This can manifest itself, for example, in the form of delusions of grandeur or sometimes hallucinations.
Depression after childbirth
Postpartum depression or prenatal depression
Childbirth can be a very profound event. Most women still experience irritability, sleep problems and feel emotional after childbirth. In some women, these symptoms persist even months after giving birth. This is known as postpartum depression or postnatal depression. It can also develop during pregnancy in the form of prenatal depression.
Postpartum depression sometimes begins only a few weeks after giving birth or even months later. Similar to normal depression, you suffer from a gloomy mood, fatigue, lethargy and anxious thoughts. You may also have negative thoughts and feelings about motherhood. You distance yourself from the baby or are just overprotective.
The causes of postpartum depression or prenatal depression vary from person to person. Often a combination of biological, psychological and sociological factors play a role. During a treatment program at U-center, we include all of these factors in your treatment plan.
Learn more about inpatient treatment for your depression at U-center.
Recurrent depressive symptoms
Recurrent depression
When your depressive symptoms keep recurring, we call it recurrent depression. In this case, you go through several depressive episodes and your depressive mood disorder keeps returning. In some cases, you may not have fully recovered from your previous depressive episode. It may also be that certain circumstances trigger a relapse, causing you to suffer from depressive symptoms again.
What is seasonal depression?
Seasonal depression
Some people suffer from depressive symptoms every year in the same season. In that case, we speak of seasonal depression. Seasonal depression usually manifests itself in the winter period, but you can also suffer from summer depression, fall depression or spring depression.
Seasonal depression is often mistaken for a period when you are not doing well for a while. If you suffer from seasonal depression, you have many of the same symptoms as with any other depression and can even cause recurring social problems or dropout at work during this period. Especially with autumn or winter depression, light therapy can help reduce your depressed mood.