Write a 5 pages paper on major depression and antidepressant treatment. Clinical psychologists find themselves treating major depression as a very common illness hence it is important for them to have a thorough understanding of this mental illness in order to reach a correct diagnosis (Thomas 2010). The clinical picture of the condition, diagnostic challenges, diagnostic tools, effective treatments, and recent developments regarding major depression will be elaborated in the paper.

According to the DSM-IV-TR criterion, the disorders of mood are broadly classified into “Depressive Disorders, Bipolar Disorders, and Mood Disorder due to a general medical condition and Substance-Induced Mood disorder”. The depressive disorders are further classified into “Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymic Disorder and Depressive Disorder not otherwise specified”. Depressive disorders are differentiated from bipolar disorders on the basis of important historical findings. The absence of any Manic, Mixed, or Hypomanic episode classifies the mood disorder as a depressive disorder (American Psychiatric Association 2000).

A single event of depression without any occurrence of mania i.e. euphoric period, behavioral excess, or events of the display of excessive energy is termed as MDD. The major depressive episode is characterized by depressed mood or anhedonia (no interest in daily activities) for almost the whole day and these symptoms extend for at least two weeks. It is important to mention here that the severity of the symptoms should be enough to cause hindrance in the affected individual’s usual social and occupational activities. The severity of the symptoms is described on the basis of the extent to which they cause disability. A mild degree is characterized by the ability of the person to carry out his/her daily responsibilities. A moderate degree is described by the inability of the person to take interest or perform his/her obligations and the severe form of MDD is when the individual starts thinking of death or exhibits psychotic behavior or completely isolates himself/herself. An individual is diagnosed with chronic MDD when the symptoms prevail for more than 2 years (Thomas 2010).

Write 7 pages thesis on the topic how your life experience influences who you are. Along with this job, I have to do an internship at an agency where I work as a personal shopper and my job is to assist other people in shopping for clothes, shoes, and other required accessories. I enjoy my job mostly, but sometimes, it becomes a burden because, by nature, I am a lonely person who likes to remain separated and speak very less. So, as I am not talkative, therefore, I, sometimes, do not like to listen to people when they are really mad and continue to speak uselessly.

I live in a nuclear family having my mom and me only. Previously, when I was very young, I used to live in an extended family in which, I had my grandparents, my uncle, aunt, and my father. At that time, I considered myself very happy and satisfied with my life. I was really confident. However, with the passage of time, my confidence shattered and I suffered through the loss of relatives. When I was five years old, my grandparents moved to the USA leaving my father, mother, and me to live in a nuclear family. At the age of twelve, I saw my parents getting separated after divorce due to which, I was left with my mother only. Before three years, I moved to the USA with my mother. The person who has affected my personality the most is my mother who has been with me since my birth. Her love for me cannot be ignored, as she has never left me on myself until now. She has accompanied me when no one was there for accompanying me.

When we moved back to the USA and I was to live with my grandparents for some time, I felt very lonely and strange among them because there was a gap of full fifteen years between my livings with my grandparents. It was a huge time and I was very uncomfortable. The USA, in itself, was a new place for me to exist as it is enough withdrawn from my native land. I was to exist in a new land with different values, customs, traditions, and cultures. A setting in diverse lands is not as easy as it appears. People are different, languages are different, cultures are different, in totality, it appears as if everybody around one is an alien.