I'm Still Human: Understanding Depression With Kindness (Expanded Edition - 2021)

19. Are there different types of depression?
Yes, there are different types of depression.
Understanding them is useful as the treatment plan
(especially medication) is different. Here are some
of the common types of depression:
• Major Depression: This is the most common type of
depression seen in clinical practice, which has been described in
Part 1 of this book. ‘Major’ here doesn’t mean a severe type of
‘major depression.’ It means depression as an illness (more than the
occasional sadness). Major depression is further divided into mild,
moderate and severe, depending on the number of symptoms and
degree of impairment of function.
• Major Depression with psychosis: This is a severe form of
major depression. Besides the usual depressive symptoms, it also
has psychotic features - hallucinations (e.g. hearing voices, “You
should kill yourself”), delusions (e.g. false belief that the organs in
the body have rotted). Besides antidepressants, treatment will
include antipsychotic, e.g. risperidone.
• Depression of Bipolar Disorder: In this type of depression,
mood swings extremely between depression and mania (excessive
happiness or irritability, very talkative, over friendly, reduced need
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