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Minor Depressive Disorder

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Synonyms

Depressive disorder not otherwise specified; Mild depression; Other specified depressive disorder; Short-duration depressive episode; Subclinical depression; Subsyndromal depression; Subthreshold depression; Subthreshold major depression

Short Description or Definition

Minor Depressive Disorder was originally included in the DSM-IV-TR as a proposed diagnosis and outlined there as a condition requiring further study. The essential feature of the disorder was conceptualized as having one or more depressive episodes that mimicked a major depressive episode in length, but had fewer symptoms and less functional impairment compared to major depression (APA 2000). The inclusion of Minor Depressive Disorder into the DSM-IV_TR manual was justified by sufficient research evidence indicating that individuals with subthreshold levels of depression were (1) seeking treatment, predominantly in primary care settings, (2) responded effectively to such treatment, and (3), if not treated,...

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Sánchez, O., Brownlee-Duffeck, M. (2018). Minor Depressive Disorder. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2119

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