Researchers from Rhode Island Hospital's department of psychiatry propose that the definition for major depressive disorder (MDD) should be shortened to include only the mood and cognitive symptoms that have been part of the definition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for the past 35 years.

Major depressive disorder is a common and complex condition that impacts about 15% of the population of the United States, yet very little is known about the mechanisms behind the psychiatric disorder. What is known is that there are clinical parallels between depressive symptoms and the symptoms of certain inflammatory disorders.

Countless movies and TV shows make light of women’s so-called “moodiness”, often jokingly attributing it to their menstrual cycle or, conversely, to menopause. In fact, mood disorders are a serious and pervasive health problem, and large-scale population studies have found women are 1.5 to 3 times more likely to suffer from major depressive disorder than are men.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common major mental illness, afflicting almost one in five individuals. More than 75% of people who recover from an episode of MDD will have at least one recurrence, with the majority having multiple recurrences.

Women and men appear to respond differently to the same biochemical manipulation. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders, and it is also one of the most studied.