 An Australian psychiatrist says clinical depression is being over-diagnosed.
| That's because there's a fine line between depression and being unhappy. I believe there's also a certain controversy over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. |
Dr. Gordon Parker of the University of New South Wales said many people being diagnosed with depression may just be feeling a bit blue, the Australian Broadcast Corp. said Friday. "My personal view is that it is normal for humans to become depressed," he said.
| Oh, Gawd, that tears me up! Stop, please! |
"We can call that normal depression and there's also clinical depression."
| I think it's where the twains meet that the problem lies. |
Clinical depression was once diagnosed in about 5 to 10 percent of the population, he said. Current diagnostic criteria would cover up to 90 percent of the population.
| Cheeze. Wotta downer. I may spend the rest of the day eating worms. |
Parker says criteria introduced in the 1980s broadened the definition of depression to include minor conditions. "Clinical depression in the old days was black melancholia," he said. "Now we've got blue becoming the new black."
| I was a lot happier back before the color shift. I'd come down with a case of the glums in the morning but by lunchtime I was my old self -- nasty, snarling, brutish... |
| For the progressive movement green has become the new black ... |
Ian Hickie of the University of Sydney rejected Parker's theory in a debate published in the British Medical Journal. He said people with lesser forms of depression are more likely to be at risk from premature death than the general population and often go on to develop major depression. "The increased treatment rate is a Godsend," he said.
| "Yeah. With the increased business we can finally afford that vacation to the south of France." |
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