Melancholic depression

Melancholic Depression, or 'depression with melancholic features' is a subtype of depression characterized by the inability to find pleasure in positive things combined with physical agitation, insomnia, or decreased appetite. Roughly 10% of people with depression suffer from Melancholic Depression.

Diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV-TR)
The DSM-IV-TR, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines Depression with Melancholic Features as a subtype of depression characterized by:


 * A. At least one of the following:
 * loss of pleasure in all, or almost all, activities
 * lack of mood reactivity to usually pleasurable stimuli (can't feel much better, even when something good happens)
 * B. At least three of the following:
 * distinct quality of depressed mood (i.e., the depressed mood is experienced as distinctly different from the kind of feeling experienced after the death of a loved one)
 * depression is regularly worse in the morning
 * early morning awakening (at least 2 hours before usual time of awakening)
 * marked psychomotor retardation or agitation
 * significant anorexia or weight loss
 * excessive or inappropriate guilt