| depression | 1. A lowering or decrease of functional activity. 2. <psychiatry> A mental state of depressed mood characterised by feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. Depression ranges from normal feelings of the blues through dysthymia to major depression. It in many ways resembles the grief and mourning that follow bereavement, there are often feelings of low self esteem, guilt and self reproach, withdrawal from interpersonal contact and somatic symptoms such as eating and sleep disturbances. Origin: L. Depremere = to press down (18 Nov 1997) |
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| depression of optic disk | The normally occurring depression or pit in the centre of the optic disc. Synonym: excavatio disci, depression of optic disk, excavatio papillae, physiologic cup, physiologic excavation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| depression, bipolar | Formerly called manic- depressive illness. Not nearly as prevalent as other forms of depressive disorders, bipolar disorder involves cycles of depression and elation or mania. Sometimes the mood switches are dramatic and rapid, but most often they are gradual. When in the depressed cycle, you can have any or all of the symptoms of a depressive disorder. When in the manic cycle, any or all symptoms listed under mania may be experienced. Mania often affects thinking, judgment, and social behaviour in ways that cause serious problems and embarrassment. For example, unwise business or financial decisions may be made when an individual is in a manic phase. Bipolar disorder is often a chronic recurring condition. (12 Dec 1998) |
| depression, dysthmia | A less severe type of depression, dysthymia involves long-term chronic symptoms that do not disable, but keep one from functioning at full steam or from feeling good. Sometimes people with dysthymia also experience major depressive episodes. (12 Dec 1998) |
| depression, involutional | Marked depression appearing in the involution period and characterised by hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and agitation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| depression, major | Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms (see Depression, symptoms of) that interfere with the ability to work, sleep, eat, and enjoy once pleasurable activities. These disabling episodes of depression can occur once, twice, or several times in a lifetime. (12 Dec 1998) |
| depression, postpartum | Depression in women occurring usually within four weeks after the delivery of a child. The degree of depression ranges from mild transient depression to neurotic or psychotic depressive disorders. (12 Dec 1998) |
| agitated depression | Depression with excitement and restlessness. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| anaclitic depression | Impairment of an infant's physical, social, and intellectual development following separation from its mother or from a mothering surrogate; characterised by listlessness, withdrawal, and anorexia. See: hospitalism. (05 Mar 2000) |
| angle of depression | <orthopaedics> The angle formed by the meeting of a line drawn through the shaft of the femur with one passing through the long axis of the femoral neck; normally it is about 127 |
| major depression | A clinical syndrome that includes a persistent sad mood or loss of interest in activities that persists for at least 2 weeks in the absence of external precipitants. This should not be confused with a grief reaction (death of loved one). Features may include change in eating habits, insomnia, early morning wakening, lack of interest, depressed mood, fatigue and suicidal thoughts. (27 Sep 1997) |
| manic-depression | Alternating moods of abnormal highs (mania) and lows (depression). Called bipolar disease because of the swings between these opposing poles in mood. (12 Dec 1998) |
| reactive depression | A psychological state occasioned directly by an intensely sad external situation (frequently loss of a loved person), relieved by the removal of the external situation (e.g., reunion with a loved person). (05 Mar 2000) |
| clinical depression | <psychiatry> A clinical syndrome that includes a persistent sad mood or loss of interest in activities that persists for at least 2 weeks in the absence of external precipitants. This should not be confused with a grief reaction (death of loved one). Features may include change in eating habits, insomnia, early morning wakening, lack of interest, depressed mood, fatigue and suicidal thoughts. (27 Sep 1997) |
| postdrive depression | <cardiology, physiology> Slowing of the heart, often with a rate-dependent blockade of A-V conduction and/or V-A conduction following rapid atrial stimulation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pterygoid depression | A depression on the antero-medial side of the neck of the condylar process of the mandible, giving attachment to the lateral pterygoid muscle. Synonym: fovea pterygoidea, pterygoid depression, pterygoid pit. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spreading depression | A decrease of activity evoked by local stimulation of the cerebral cortex and spreading slowly over the whole cortex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| nonreactive depression | <psychiatry> A clinical syndrome that includes a persistent sad mood or loss of interest in activities that persists for at least 2 weeks in the absence of external precipitants. This should not be confused with a grief reaction (death of loved one). Features may include change in eating habits, insomnia, early morning wakening, lack of interest, depressed mood, fatigue and suicidal thoughts. (12 Mar 1998) |
| involutional depression | Depression or psychosis first occurring in the involutional years (40 to 55 for women, 50 to 65 for men). (05 Mar 2000) |
| endogenous depression | <psychiatry> A clinical syndrome that includes a persistent sad mood or loss of interest in activities that persists for at least 2 weeks in the absence of external precipitants. This should not be confused with a grief reaction (death of loved one). Features may include change in eating habits, insomnia, early morning wakening, lack of interest, depressed mood, fatigue and suicidal thoughts. (27 Sep 1997) |
| exogenous depression | Similar signs and symptoms as endogenous depression but the precipitating factors are social or environmental and outside the individual. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lingual salivary gland depression | An indentation on the lingual surface of the mandible within which a portion of the submandibular gland lies; it appears radiographically as a sharply circumscribed ovoid radiolucency between the mandibular canal and the inferior border of the posterior mandible. Synonym: Stafne bone cyst, static bone cyst. (05 Mar 2000) |