Is there a difference between real and fake depression? Yes, today we are going to talk about “pseudodepression”.
To be precise, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) does not have the term pseudodepression. Pseudodepressive disorder refers to atypical depression, which is characterized by depressive moods and some clinical manifestations of depression, but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for depression, or the depressive manifestations are transient or are stimulated in some way and last for a short period of time.
Depression usually does not manifest itself solely as a lack of interest in anything, persistent low mood, loss of appetite, restlessness, or even thoughts of suicide or self-harm. However, some people will have a state where the physical symptoms are obvious while the mental state is still good.
In clinical practice, we often call this kind of physical symptoms obvious but mental state abnormal not obvious as pseudodepression. Pseudodepression is a manifestation that is distinct from true depression and does not fall under the category of depression when the scale is administered.
Pseudodepression is usually caused by a certain trigger event, such as the death of a family member, a mistake at work, or dissatisfaction caused by a certain event, resulting in a period of depression and emotional depression, but the duration and degree of depression are not very heavy, and the performance is reduced after the event is resolved (e.g., after finding a job) or alleviated, which can be considered as one of the manifestations of pseudodepression when the episode is somewhat similar to depression. One of the manifestations of pseudodepression.
There are also patients with Alzheimer’s disease, in the early stage of the disease, they may show a gradual lack of activity, their personality becomes more dull and their speech decreases, just like the state of less speech, less movement, lazy speech and lazy movement during depressive episodes, but if the dementia develops further other manifestations will be more prominent, and the emotional experience is not as prominent as the depression, which is also one of the manifestations of pseudodepression.
One of the most important divisions between true depression and pseudodepression is persistence. To determine whether you are suffering from pseudodepression or true depression, it is recommended to see a professional psychiatrist at a hospital for a definitive diagnosis, as some pseudodepressions may sometimes require antidepressant medication as well.
Reference.
[1]Zhang Hongliu,Wang Tianfang,et al. Recent 10-year literature analysis of Chinese medical evidence of depression [J]. Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2005,28(3): 79-81