clinical depression

noun

: a serious mood disorder involving one or more episodes of intense psychological depression or loss of interest or pleasure that lasts two or more weeks and is accompanied by irritability, fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbances, weight gain or loss, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and sometimes suicidal tendencies : major depression, major depressive disorder

Mild depression is a normal condition, a sadness brought on by life's circumstances. Clinical depression, on the other hand, is a sadness so deep that it can lead to suicide if left untreated.

—Brenda Lane Richardson

Examples of clinical depression in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The idea is to tap into the brain’s circuits so depressive signals and pathways don’t spiral into the debilitating emotional episodes typical of clinical depression. —Alice Park, TIME, 24 Oct. 2024

As metaphors for clinical depression go, having a sad clown move in with your family is, uh, one of them. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 8 Mar. 2024

Massachusetts voters will decide in November whether to allow individuals to have access to psychedelic substances as a form of mental health treatment, in particular, for post-traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression. —Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024

The researchers checked whether the young patients had been formally diagnosed with some form of clinical depression. —Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

clinical depression

noun

: a serious mood disorder involving one or more episodes of intense psychological depression or loss of interest or pleasure that lasts two or more weeks and is accompanied by irritability, fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbances, weight gain or loss, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and sometimes suicidal tendencies : major depression, major depressive disorder

Cases of clinical depression present doctors with a nasty diagnostic challenge: The malady, which strikes about 10% of the population, comes in myriad forms, each requiring different treatments.

—Science