A full professional workup can help to differentiate demoralization from a major depressive disorder. Troubling moods can arise from a variety of contexts. They may indicate a major mental disorder, but could also represent reactions to life circumstances.

Life is and can be incredibly stressful. If we do not have the tools we need to handle that stress, our emotions can get the best of us. When our distress level becomes elevated, rational thinking (being able to clearly see all of our options) ceases to exist.

Depression can take a happy, healthy relationship and create a cloud around your ability to enjoy the person you love. But you can stop this cycle before it damages your relationship. Here are simple, manageable tips to help.

Never take for granted the feeling of happiness -- because pure happiness is something that can only be created within.

Like Mary Richardson Kennedy appears to have been, Delia was a beloved person who died too young from terminal depression. It can happen to anyone. Even those who seem to have it all.

Depression is a different type of beast, a "black dog," as Winston Churchill often used when describing his own signs and symptoms. How do you know if you're depressed and not just sad?

The holidays are often a time when folks complain of feeling down or blue. These feelings are real, but most of the time, they are mild and temporary -- not true symptoms of clinical depression.

As I look back, I recognize that being able to talk about my depression was almost as agonizing as going through it. Ultimately, though it was therapeutic for me.

Even experienced clinical judgment often misses the mark. As a result, suicide experts have long hoped and searched for a clear behavioral marker of suicide risk. Now they may have found one.

The more depressed someone was, the more likely they were to benefit from taking anti-depressants. The studies showed that this was true, whether or not the patients took Paxil.

I believed, along with all the other adults in my life, that my melancholy and sensitivity were part of my "special" make-up, that they were gifts to celebrate, not neuroses to treat.