AQA A Level Psychology

Revision Notes

4.3.1 Characteristics of Depression

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Characteristics of Depression

  • Depression is a mood disorder, where the suffering experiences low mood and low energy levels.
  • All forms of depressive disorders are characterised by changes in mood or loss of interest in activities that were once found to be pleasurable
  • This must be for no less than two weeks
  • The DSM-5 recognised the following categories of depressive disorders:
    • Major depressive disorder: Severe but often short-term depression 
    • Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Childhood tantrums 
    • Persistent depressive disorder: Long-term, reoccurring depression, including sustained major depression 
    • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: Disruption of mood before and/or during menstruation 

Symptoms of depression can be characterised by three areas: 

Behavioural characteristics

  • The shift in activity levels: This can be both an increase in activity such as restlessness or a decrease, where the person withdraws from the daily life, such as not being able to go to work
  • Affected sleep: This can be an increase in the need to sleep and stay in bed or a decrease where they suffer from insomnia or premature waking
  • Affected appetite: Again, this can be an increase, where the person eats more and more to comfort eat, or, a decrease, where the person cannot eat and struggles to eat meals
  • Aggression and self-harm: Depression can lead the individual to be aggressive with themselves and cause self-harm, such as cutting and suicide attempts

Emotional characteristics

  • Sadness: The lowered mood is a key defining emotion of depression and can lead the person to feel hopeless
  • Anger: People with depression often have angry outbursts; this can be directed at themself or others
  • This emotion comes under behavioural characteristics as well as they can cause harm to themselves and others 
  • Loss of interests: The person suffering from depression may lose all interest in activities or hobbies that once brought them joy, so giving them a lack of control
  • Lower self-esteem: A person with depression is likely to have lower self-esteem, with some suffering from self-loathing, E.g. Hating themselves or something in particular about themselves

Cognitive characteristics

  • Negative views of the world: The person suffering from depression is likely to think that everything will turn out badly and there is no hope 
  • Irrational thoughts: Their thoughts and beliefs are not rational and the person suffering from depression will see the world negatively, their thoughts do not accurately reflect reality 
  • Poor concentration: The person suffering from depression can have poor levels of concentration, where they are unable to stick with a specific task or they find it hard to make decisions
  • Negative expectations of themselves: The person suffering holds unrealistic expectations about themselves and their relationships

Exam Tip

Make sure when discussing abnormalities, especially depression, you remain factual to the specification to ensure you get the marks and do not take personal experiences of those around you for your answers. Depression is suffered by many in society, which can make it hard to distinguish between the characteristics described above and the symptoms you see in loved ones. 

The characteristics of depression often come up as 1-mark or multiple-choice responses so make sure you are aware of the differences between emotional, cognitive, and behavioural characteristics as you may not have the chance to explain your answer

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Jenna

Author: Jenna

Jenna studied at Cardiff University before training to become a science teacher at the University of Bath specialising in Biology (although she loves teaching all three sciences at GCSE level!). Teaching is her passion, and with 10 years experience teaching across a wide range of specifications – from GCSE and A Level Biology in the UK to IGCSE and IB Biology internationally – she knows what is required to pass those Biology exams.