Increased or excessive involvement in activities that may be dangerous or risky - this might include skydiving, risky business investments, or sexual behavior that is not usual for the person.Increase in energy and goal-directed activity - when a person goes from being low energy and motivation with few goals to suddenly having energy, goals, and is motivated to pursue and achieve goals.Racing thoughts - this is when someone's thoughts race or go very fast, so fast that their thoughts change very quickly.More talkative than usual - someone who cannot stop themselves from talking or in a group cannot stop long enough for others to contribute to a conversation.
For example, they believe that they have special powers, spiritual connections, or religious relationships Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity - someone who believes themselves to be larger than they are.Typically, they consider themselves very important Elevated, expansive mood - someone who may express hostility, criticism and be emotionally over-involved in life events.Mixed Features - These are behaviors that are typically observed by others and represent a change from the person's usual behavior. A clinician will typically label the disorder as mild to severe based on the number of anxiety symptoms the person experiences along with MDD. These should not be diagnosed as MDD unless the DSM criteria for MDD have been met and a person is unable to function because of their sadness.Ĭlinicians can also label the episode as occurring with:Īnxious Distress - this is when a person feels keyed up/tense, is unusually restless, or has a feeling or fear that something awful may happen or they may lose control. Sadness - Feeling sad is part of being human, and everyone has periods when they feel sad.Adjustment disorder with depressed mood - this is used when not all the criteria are met for MDD and the depressive episode occurs in response to a stressful event involving other people such as a death or loss (divorce).This can be a tricky diagnosis in children because instead of being sad or losing interest, children tend to become irritable with depression. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder - people with this type are distracted and easily frustrated.For example, a person suffering from cocaine withdrawal would be diagnosed as cocaine-induced depressive disorder. Substance/medication-induced depressive or bipolar disorder - This description is used when the depressive symptoms are related to the use of a substance (medication or drug of abuse).In this case, treatment options might be very different. It is important for a clinician to understand whether a person is depressed because they have a true mood disturbance or if their depression is due to a medical condition. Mood disorder due to another medical condition - the person has a medical condition such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, or heart disease and is also experiencing depression.Manic episodes with irritable mood or mixed episodes - in this situation, the person may be very irritable or have mood symptoms that are similar to those seen in bipolar disorder.It may also be used to provide information about a person's anticipated course of the disorder and their prognosis (outcome).įor example, a differential diagnosis of MDD with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder narrows down the diagnosis to describe that a person is highly distractible and irritable during a depressive episode rather than just being sad.Ĭlinicians may use the following differential diagnoses to describe the current or most recent Major Depressive Disorder: This information can help a clinician narrow down which treatments may work best for the patient.
This is known as a differential diagnosis. In addition to making a diagnosis of a particular disorder, a clinician can also say how it is different from other conditions that may have similar symptoms.
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