Differences between Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Depression (Essay Sample)

Differences between Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Depression
Name
Institution
Abstract
This article focuses on the differences between major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Many a times, people do not know how to differentiate between clinical depression (major depressive disorder) and manic depression (bipolar depression). Norman Sartorius states that, when people talk of being diagnosed with depression, they normally are referring to unipolar depression .The differences discussed in this article are based on how the disease causes a person to behave or react and how treatment is given to them after being diagnosed with either of the two. When it comes to moods and depression, people suffering from bipolar depression experience very high moods as compared to those with major depressive disorder.However, the main difference between the two is that bipolar depression is a combination of both major depressive disorder and maniac depression. Clinical depression is another name for major depressive syndrome while bipolar depression is also referred to as manic depression.
Key words: bipolar depression, major depressive disorder
Discussion
Differences between major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder include:
Mania is what differentiates bipolar disorder from major depressive disorder. A person with bipolar experiences episodes of mania. Mania is characterized by a person having low self esteem; the need for sleep is decreased and talking more than usual. On the other hand, mania is not experienced by a person suffering from depression.
In addition, depression is characterized by unipolar, which is its major symptom. In bipolar disorder, both depression and hyper-mania symptoms are experienced. This makes it even harder bipolar depression to be noticed in a person than it is for depression.
Treatment of bipolar depression is not as easy as it is for major depressive disorder. The former is the same as major depressive disorder when one is in its low phase.Anti depressants cannot be taken by people suffering from bipolar disorder as the only form of treatment. This is...