Human Development
Depression
Description:
Feelings of sadness, despondency, unresponsiveness and lack of drive are characteristic of depression, whether endogenous (hereditary), reactive (in response to stressful events), due to exhaustion (mental overstrain), or neurotic (arising from unresolved conflicts in the unconscious). There may be guilt superimposed on sadness. Together with a slowing of psychomotor activity and general lassitude there may be insomnia (or an increased need for sleep) and anorexia (or overeating). Depression may arise from a breakdown in self-esteem regulation due to loss of something or someone related to the individual's self-representation.