Clinical depression is a state of sadness or melancholia that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individual’s social functioning and/or activities of daily living.

The diagnosis may be applied when an individual meets a sufficient number of the symptomatic criteria for the depression spectrum as suggested in the DSM-IV-TR or ICD-9/10.

It is important to note that an individual may suffer from what is termed a “clinical depression” without fully meeting the criteria for a specific diagnosis on the depression spectrum..

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