reactive depression
Noun: A type of depression that is an inappropriate or disproportionate emotional response, specifically triggered by identifiable external events or stressors in a person's life. It is clinically distinguished from the typical, expected sadness of normal grief.
This term is used in clinical, psychological, and psychiatric contexts to categorize and describe a depressive episode with a clear external cause. - The diagnosis was reactive depression, linked directly to the series of traumatic losses she experienced. - His profound sadness following the job loss was more than just disappointment; it developed into a reactive depression. - The therapist explained that reactive depression is often treated by addressing both the symptoms and the precipitating life event.
- Clinical Distinction: The term is used to differentiate this condition from (depression arising from internal, biological factors) and from , which is a natural, non-pathological response to loss.
- In Diagnosis: It may be specified in older diagnostic frameworks. In contemporary systems like the DSM-5, it might fall under diagnoses such as "Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood" or a major depressive episode with a noted psychosocial stressor.
- Reactive (adjective): Showing a response to a stimulus. In psychology, describing a condition or behavior caused by an external event.
- Her anxiety was reactive, flaring up only in specific social situations.
- Situational Depression (noun, informal): A non-clinical term often used synonymously with reactive depression, emphasizing the situational cause.
- Exogenous Depression (noun, synonymous): An older term meaning depression originating from outside the individual.
- Situational Depression
- Exogenous Depression
- Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood (related modern diagnostic category)
- Endogenous Depression (depression stemming from internal, often biological, factors)
- Normal Grief (a typical, non-pathological emotional response to loss)
- an inappropriate state of depression that is precipitated by events in the person's life (to be distinguished from normal grief)