HOW COMMON ARE THE VARIOUS TYPES OF DEPRESSION? WHAT IS ATYPICAL DEPRESSION?
About 3% to 4% of the population experiences major depression. Manic depression occurs in another 1% or 2%, and another 5% of the population suffers from one of the other forms of depression, including dysthymia, chronic treatment-resistant depression, and depression secondary to medical or other psychiatric disorders. All told, about 10% of the population is afflicted by depression in one form or another, with women about two to five times more likely than men to be affected. Manic depression, however, afflicts men and women equally.
In a usual depression, most people tend to lose weight and have difficulty sleeping, whereas the distinctive feature of atypical depression is that patients tend to gain weight and to sleep more than is normal. They also tend to be extremely anxious, histrionic, sensitive to rejection, and strongly reactive to environmental factors. Major depression typically does not have these latter symptoms.
The symptoms of atypical depression have traditionally responded best to Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors, but studies now suggest that Prozac and probably other SSRIs may also be effective in treating this disorder.
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