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Major & Manic Depression

Major depression affects 15% of Americans at some point during their lives, and 100-million people are affected on any given day. The age of onset is fairly evenly spread out among people. The mean age is 40, but can onset from childhood to seniors. Major depression , and the more serious manic depression , can come on suddenly in days, or build over years. It can be predated by anxiety, phobias, panic and dysthymia.

Over half of the people who experience major depression only have one episode. With each successive episode, the patient has a 15% risk that their next episode will be a manic depression episode , changing their diagnosis to bipolar disorder . In the end, approximately 15-20% of those with major depression become chronically depressed . Approximately 15% of patients with major depression may commit suicide, as well, with men committing suicide at a rate 2 times as often as women.

The main feature of major depression is either an unpleasant mood (feeling down, irritable or apprehensive) or a loss of pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Contrary to popular thought, this second feature, loss of enjoyment, is the main symptom described by many depressed people, rather than the more well known unpleasant mood.

 

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