Melancholic depression

Melancholic depression, or depression with melancholic features, is a DSM-IV and DSM-5 specifier of depressive disorders. This type of depression has specific symptoms that make it different from the standard clinical depression list of symptoms. Furthermore, melancholic depression has a specific subset of causes and can respond differently to treatment than other clinical depression types. Depression with melancholic features is classified under the fourth and fifth versions Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV and DSM-5) as a specifier of depressive disorders. A specifier essentially is a subcategory of a disease, explaining specific features or symptoms that are added to the main diagnosis. Melancholic depression requires at least one of the following symptoms during the last depressive episode: Anhedonia (the inability to find pleasure in positive things) Lack of mood reactivity (i.e. mood does not improve in response to positive/desired events; failure to feel better) And at least three of the following: Depressed mood that is subjectively different from grief or loss (marked by despair, gloominess, and "empty-mood") Severe weight loss or loss of appetite Psychomotor agitation or retardation (i.e. increased or decreased movement, speech, and cognitive function) Early morning awakening (i.e. waking up at least 2 hours before the normal wake up time of the patient) Guilt that is excessive Worse depressed mood in the morning Melancholic features apply to an episode of depression that occurs as part of either major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), or bipolar disorder I or II. They are more likely to occur in patients who suffer from depression with psychotic features. People with melancholic depression also tend to have more physically visible symptoms such as slower movement or speech. The causes of melancholic depressive disorder are believed to be mostly biological factors: people may have inherited the disorder from their parents.