Depression Definition - The Various Aspests

Depression definition may be related to one or more terms of the meaning of the word “depression”. There are basically several types of depression, or meanings of depression which can be categorized as:

A depression in the weather
An economic depression (also called a recession)
A physical geographic feature
A mental mood disorder

Depression definition when examined in all of these different contexts does have one overriding feature that links them all, and that is the lowering down of something. So let’s have a look at each of four types of depression listed above, to see how this “lowering down of something” fits in.

When related to the weather, the depression definition of “lowering something” is extremely apt. For a start, depressions in the weather are referred to as “lows”. This is because a depression in the weather sense refers to an area of low pressure.

These areas of low pressure bring with them: wind, cloud, rain (which in the winter can mean snow), and generally unsettled and changeable conditions. So, you could say that this sort of depression could easily lead to another sort of depression, the mental kind, especially for those of us who suffer from S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) and get “the blues” when we cannot see the sun.

Okay, so now let’s have a look at depression definition when it refers to an economic depression. Once again the lowering of something comes into the equation, and in this particular instance it is the lowering of GDP, or Gross Domestic Product to the uninitiated.

GDP refers in general terms to the total economic output of a nation, and when it drops by more than 10%, then there is said to be a depression. Once again there is a link to the mental type of depression. If we go back in time to Black Tuesday in 1929 and the Wall Street crash, one remembers tales of business men who got so depressed by the economic depression that they flung themselves from windows several stories up!

The depression definition in its geographical sense refers to a depression in the ground or perhaps on the sea bed. In this instance, the “lowering” is that of ground level (or sea bed level) to form a valley. One often hears about depressions on the moon’s surface (or surface of other planets come to that), in the moon’s case caused by the hundreds of caters created by meteorites crashing down onto the surface.

The final depression definition is in relation to depression as a mental illness. In this context it refers to the lowering of one’s spirit and mental well being. Many people suffer from depression, but in the majority of cases it is a transient condition that lasts only for a few hours or days at most.

It is normally brought on by a sad or disturbing event, but is usually self healing. It is clinical depression, or at its worst, manic depression that are serious mental illnesses that require proper medication and therapy to cure. These forms of depression can last for weeks or months, or in the very worst scenarios, years.

Manic depression is the worst type of depression and its sufferers experience wild mood swings from hyper elation to hyper depression, sometimes both conditions prevailing at the same time.

Check out my other guide on depression treatments and cardiac stress test

Depression Definition

clinical depression definition

Depression Definition - The Various Aspests

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