Major Depressive Disorder, also known as clinical depression, is the most dominant type of depression.

You are suffering from MDD if you have been experiencing one or more Major Depressive Episode (MDE) that has taken place during the last two weeks of your life.
An MDE has taken place if you experienced five or more of the symptoms.

Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder

• You have depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, which is either reported by you or observed by others.
• You have markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all activities most of the day, nearly every day, as reported by you or observed by others.
• You have significant weight loss even if you are not dieting or weight gain, such as increase of 5% in your body weight in a month, or decrease or increase in your appetite nearly every day.
• You experience insomnia (failing to sleep) or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) nearly every day.
• You show psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day, as reported by you and observed by others.
• You experience fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day.
• You feel worthless or excessively or inappropriately guilty nearly every day.
• You have diminished the ability to think or concentrate, or are indecisive, nearly every day, either reported by you or observed by others.
• You have recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide.

Diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder

The diagnosis of whether you have MDD is based mainly on your clinical history. This is the combination of what you narrated to the physician, what others observed from you, and what the physician observed and heard from you when you were interviewed. If you have five or more of the symptoms listed in the preceding with depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure as one of them, then you are diagnosed to be suffering from MDD. Laboratory tests and other procedures are seldom availed of when it comes to MDD. They do not play a significant role in arriving at the diagnosis of MDD.