Depression

Abstract

More than two millennia ago, ancient Greek and Roman physicians first recognized the high prevalence of depression or melancholia in older adults. In the fourth century BC, Hippocrates made an early reference to distress and melancholia or “an excess of black bile.” He defined melancholia (black bile) as a state of “aversion to food, despondency, sleeplessness, irritability and restlessness.” Later, Galen (131–201 AD) described melancholia as a manifestation of “fear and depression, discontent with life and hatred of all people.” Subsequent Greco-Roman medicine not only recognized the symptoms of melancholia in the form of fear, suspicion, aggression, and death wishes, but also referred to environmental contributions to melancholia as immoderate consumption of wine, perturbations of the soul due to passion, and disturbed sleep cycle.