Major Depressive Disorder can severely disrupt your life, affecting your appetite, sleep, work, and relationships.

Dysthymic Disorder has symptoms resembling major depression but with less severity. People who have it feel mildly depressed on most days over a period of at least 2 years

Seasonal Affective Disorder has the major depression symptoms but the symptoms occur during certain seasons of the year.

Postpartum Depression is a type of depression that can occur in women who have recently given birth. Postpartum depression is different and more serious than the "baby blues" which tend to occur the first few days after delivery and resolve spontaneously.

Bipolar Disorder is a type of depression characterized by mood swings between the major depressive symptoms and mania — a period of abnormally elevated, expansive or irritated mood.

Depression has no single cause; it often results from a combination of things. Depression is not just a state of mind. It is related to physical changes in the brain and connected to an imbalance of neurotransmitters that carry signals in your brain and nerves.

Common factors in depression are:

• Family history
  
• Trauma and stress
  
• Pessimistic personality
  
• Medical conditions
  
• Other psychological disorders such as anxiety

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