Depression

According to Feldman, a mood disorder is "a disturbance in emotional feelings strong enough to intrude on everyday living" (Feldman, 2005, p. 547). One common disorder is depression; this disorder results in patients feeling responsible for the unsatisfactory things that occur in their lives. Commonly characterized "by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, and feelings of guilt and dejection," depression can be triggered by numerous events or activities in one's life (Webster's, 2005, p. 196). The onset of depression may develop due to the loss of a loved one, a break up with a significant other, or financial hardship. A severe form of depression that can interfere with concentration, decision making, and sociability is major depression (Feldman, 2005, p. 547).

The National Institute of Mental Health identifies symptoms of depression as "persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood, loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain, thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts restlessness, irritability" (NIMH, 2000). There are some defense mechanisms that may be responsible for these symptoms. Repression, the primary defense mechanism, expels disturbing thoughts or experiences from conscious awareness. One may depressed but does not know why. In conjunction with repression, reaction formation substitutes thoughts or feelings opposite of their actual feelings. A psychoanalyst, such as Freud, may meet with their depressed patient for at least an hour a day, almost everyday, for a number of years to treat the disorder. This type of treatment focuses "on resolving the patient's conflicted feelings" (id).

Cognitive factors also play a role in the commencement of depression. The text points out that Martin Seligman relied on depression being "a response to learned helplessness" (Feldman, 2005, p. 550). Learned helplessness is defined as "a learned expectation that events in one's life