Depression is a term used to describe a normal state of mind as well as a serious mental disorder. Normal depression is a mood state everyone experiences that involve short-lived states of sadness, pessimism, a sense of inferiority, and other negative feelings. It usually occurs in response to stressful or unpleasant experiences and generally does not exceed seven to ten days in length. A stricter definition of depression is a clinical diagnosis for someone suffering from a mental disorder. Unfortunate as it may seem, with the twist of a definition, depression can be transformed from a normal feeling to a deadly illness that involved over 100 million diagnosed patients worldwide in 1990. Clinical depression is a serious, clinically diagnosed depressive disorder.
             Clinical depression involves the same negative feelings as normal depression but in a more intense and long lasting from. In addition to the psychological symptoms, there are many physical signs of depression including; problems in sleeping, a loss or great increase in appetite, and frequent fatigue or lack of energy. "Individuals with severe depression may even suffer from psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions in which they lose touch with reality" (Compton, 1). Some of these patients may even go to the extremes of attempting suicide. In order for a diagnosis of depression to be reached, certain signs and symptoms must be prevalent due to the fact that Clinical Depression is very closely related to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Manic-depressive, and Bipolar disorder. The major differences between these illnesses are not necessarily the factors that cause them but more a combination of the factors and the types of reactions both the mind and body products.
             "Based on the great variability individuals show in patterns of symptoms and their responsiveness to treatment, there seem to be many types of depression" (Kevin, 54). Unfortunately, this does ...