Major Depressive Disorder: Diagnosing and Treatment

The construct of major depressive disorder makes no etiological
assumptions about populations with diverse symptom clusters.
“Depressed mood” and “loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all
activities” are core features of a major depressive episode, though
a strong case can be made to pay increasing attention to symptoms of
fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety and neurocognitive and sexual
dysfunction in the diagnosis. Mood, guilt, work and interest,
as well as psychic anxiety, are consistently identified across
validated subscales of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale as
prevalent and sensitive to change with existing treatments.

Modern Medicine – March 2018