Symptoms
The DSM-IV-TR defines Atypical Depression as a subtype of Major Depressive Disorder with Atypical Features, characterized by:
a) Mood reactivity (i.e., mood brightens in response to actual or potential positive events)
b) At least two of the following:
- Significant weight gain or increase in appetite;
- Hypersomnia (sleeping too much, as opposed to the insomnia present in melancholic depression);
- Leaden paralysis (i.e., heavy, leaden feelings in arms or legs);
- Long-standing pattern of interpersonal rejection sensitivity (not limited to episodes of mood disturbance) that results in significant social or occupational impairment.
c) Criteria are not met for Melancholic Depression or Catatonic Depression during the same episode.
Read more about this topic: Atypical Depression
Famous quotes containing the word symptoms:
“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn’t enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. The spectacle is nearly always comic.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“For anyone addicted to reading commonplace books ... finding a good new one is much like enduring a familiar recurrence of malaria, with fever, fits of shaking, strange dreams. Unlike a truly paludismic ordeal, however, the symptoms felt while savoring a collection of one man’s pet quotations are voluptuously enjoyable ...”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)