Major Depressive Episode - Diagnostic Caveats

Diagnostic Caveats

In diagnosing the symptoms a trained therapist must take the following into account:

• These symptoms must cause clinically important distress, or impair work, social or personal functioning, and they should not fulfil the criteria for Mixed Episode.
• The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., abuse of a drug or medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., hypothyroidism).
• Other than in the case of severe symptoms (severely impaired functioning, severe preoccupation with worthlessness, ideas of suicide, delusions or hallucinations or psychomotor retardation), the episode should not have begun within two months of the loss of a loved one. (See Bereavement.)