Defining the Most Common Types of Depression

When a friend recently told me about how her husband suffers from a type of depression called seasonal affective disorder, I thought this is something new. I have heard of the different types of depression from my other friends (one of whom is, in fact, an expert in the field of psychotherapy), but none of them has mentioned anything about seasonal affective disorder. Pressing my friend to define the condition she said her husband suffers from, she mentioned that her husband's psychotherapist told them that seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression associated with the shorter days and reduced exposure to light which are characteristics in fall and winter.

Depressions, or emotional disturbances, come in different forms and degrees that even experts have difficulty categorizing them into distinct classes. The most common types of depression include reactive depression, neurotic depression, and major or psychotic depression. Each of these types has specific causes, although one or all of them may be the result of chronic illness, alcohol or drug abuse, or as a side effect of some therapy.

Experts estimate that about seven percent of the population suffer from reactive depression at any one time. In many cases, reactive depression results from some emotional stresses. Such stressful situations, which cause anxiety, unhappiness, or grief, are part of normal living without being indicative of any disease. How people respond to reactive depression differ considerably. When a person's response appears to be out of proportion to the stressful situation involved, that person is deemed to be suffering from neurotic depression. A loss or some unresolved earlier emotional conflicts may be the causes of neurotic depression.

Major or psychotic depression is believed to be the most serious type of depression. This condition takes place without any evident external cause, and there can be a number of overlap. Psychotic depression may be the result of physical illness, psychological stress, or hormonal changes in a person with an underlying susceptibility to depression.