Differential diagnoses of depression
In the following, different differential diagnoses of depression are described. Somatogenic depression can occur as a consequence or accompanying symptom of a physical illness; it is then referred to as symptomatic depression. Examples are hypothyroidism, high blood pressure, diabetes or tumor diseases.
Symptomatic depression can also occur as a side effect of medication. Organic depression can be traced back to structural changes in the brain; it occurs, for example, after a stroke or as part of dementia as a result of brain atrophy. The disease of recurrent brief depressive disorder manifests itself through depressive episodes that last only a few days (two to four days) but recur more frequently.
If there are not only symptoms of depression but also symptoms of psychosis, it is called psychotic depression. The occurrence of delusions is typical: Patients suffer from the delusional, uncorrectable beliefs of being impoverished, terminally ill or worthless (impoverishment delusion, hypochondriac or nihilistic delusion). Dysthymia describes a depressive disorder that lasts at least two years.
Patients feel tired and depressed and suffer from sleep disorders. In addition, there is the feeling of not being good enough. The difference to depression is the significantly lower severity of the symptoms, which is why patients with dysthymia usually cope with the demands of everyday life, but cannot enjoy their lives and find everything very stressful.
Patients suffering from cyclothymia suffer from a very unstable mood that does not occur in relation to particularly positive or negative life events. Slightly depressive phases and phases with an elevated, slightly manic mood occur repeatedly. The disease begins in young adulthood, medical treatment is usually not necessary.
The best known form of seasonal depression is winter depression, which mainly affects women. Those affected suffer from lack of drive, tiredness and loss of interest in autumn and winter, but are completely free of symptoms in spring and summer. Treatment is done with light therapy (special 10,000 lux lamp).
About 10% of women who have given birth to a child suffer from postpartum depression within the first weeks after birth. This can last for several months, but in most cases is accompanied by mild depression symptoms and can therefore usually be treated with medication on an outpatient basis. Anxiety disorders represent an important differential diagnosis to depression, since an anxiety disorder can be accompanied by depressive symptoms and a depression can be accompanied by various anxieties. The differentiation should be made by an experienced doctor.
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