When does depression become a mental disorder?
- Maj, Mario MD, PhD
Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Largo Madonna delle Grazie, 80138 Naples, Italy. Email: [email protected]
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Mario Maj is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Naples and a member of the Italian High Council of Medicine. He has been President of the European Psychiatric Association and of the Italian Psychiatric Association.
Declaration of interest M.M. is President of the World Psychiatric Association, member of the Workgroup on Mood Disorders for the DSM-5, and chairperson of the Working Group on Mood and Anxiety Disorders for ICD-11. He has no financial conflict of interests.
First received 3 Nov 2010, final revision 23 Dec 2010, accepted 23 Feb 2011
Summary
How can we differentiate a depressive disorder from ‘normal’ sadness? This editorial summarises three approaches: the first emphasises the context in which depressive symptoms occur; the second postulates a qualitative difference between the two conditions; and the third argues that the distinction should be based on pragmatic grounds.