What Is Depression? Depression is a medical illness, an illness
with symptoms and a proven course of medical treatment that is
effective in more than eighty percent of the cases. Depression
is more than just the occasional bad mood. It is not the natural
mourning that takes place after a loss, or the "downs" in life's
ordinary cycle of ups-and-downs. Depression can be difficult to
diagnose or to recognize in oneself. The symptoms of depression
easily hide behind the ordinary experience of life. Just a
glance at the National Institutes of Health's symptoms of
depression checklist reveals that depression overlaps normal,
healthy living at many points. According to the National
Institutes of Health, the Symptoms of Depression can Include: In
the Workplace, the Symptoms of Depression Often May Be
Recognized by: Healthy people, of course, regularly experience
one or more of these symptoms. At what point, then, do ordinary
"downs" become depression? We must look first at intensity. How
intense is the symptom? Hardl