History of Major Depressive Disorder

The term Major Depressive Disorders was announced by a group of US doctors who were in the mid-70s as part of suggestions for treatment criteria grounded on symptom patterns (Raedler, 2011). Major Depressive Disorder has undergone through a plethora of different understanding and treatment since its discovery by a Greek Physician named Hippocrates (Blumenthal, 2007). In the traditional times, it was referred to as melancholia, it was caused by an imbalance in four body fluids like senses of humor, yellow bile, and black bile phlegm and blood (Glassman, 2010).

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There was a notion that depression was being caused by demons and evil spirits existed in many cultures like the ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Egyptians among others, and were often treated through beatings, starvation or even physical restraint in an attempt to drive the demons out (Nemeroff,2012) However with the ancient Greeks and Romans the doctors used treatment methods like massage, gymnastics, music, baths and a medication from poppy extract as well as donkey's milk to treat patients (Healthline,2018).

Another Roman philosopher called Cicero opposite to what the Greek Physician revealed that melancholia was caused by panic, pain, and rage (Eaton, 2008). During the 1950s and 60s, the doctors who were present then divided MDD into endogenous (arising from the body) and "neurotic" (arising from changes and effects of stimuli in the environment (Belmaker, 2008). Mainly endogenous depression resulted from a genetic composition of a person. Treatment then was done through psychiatric therapy such as cognitive behavior (Williams, 2007).

During the Middle Ages where mental illness was thought to have been caused by demons, the devil. Exorcisms, drowning, and burning were the treatment methods in that time, those with serious cases were locked up in "lunatic asylums". During resurgence, which started in 14th century in Italy spreading to Europe in the 16th and 17th-century doctor's still maintained that MDD was still caused by natural causes rather than supernatural means (Kessler, 2013). During the 15th century an author by the name Robert Burton he outlined both social and psychological causes of MDD as poverty, distress, and isolation, he also made recommendations like diet, travel, exercise, purges, herbs, and music therapy as the treatment options for MDD (Carney,2009).

During the Culmination of the Enlightenment Age, the doctors begun to make conclusions that depression was caused by aggression, and treatments like exercise, diet, music and drugs were now backed also talk therapy was recommended where the doctors told the patient that they should talk about their problems with a close friend or a doctor (Puig-Antich, 2013). Psychiatric therapy basically instills hope in people who have lacked hope in life through encouraging them to participate in activities which will help distract their mind and also through cautioning them on taking alcohol and substance abuse that is why it was used in the traditional times (Bauer,2012).

References

Healthline. (2018). Major Depressive Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment. [online] Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/clinical-depression#outlook [Accessed 2 Dec. 2018].

PsyCom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986. (2018). What is Major Depression? The Signs, Symptoms & Treatment. [online] Available at: https://www.psycom.net/depression.central.major.html [Accessed 2 Dec. 2018].

Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Koretz, D., Merikangas, K. R., ... & Wang, P. S. (2013). The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Jama, 289(23), 3095-3105.

Bauer, M., Whybrow, P. C., Angst, J., Versiani, M., Moller, H. J., & WFSBP Task Force on Treatment Guidelines for Unipolar Depressive Disorders. (2012). World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders, part 1: acute and continuation treatment of major depressive disorder. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 3(1), 5-43.

Glassman, A. H., Helzer, J. E., Covey, L. S., Cottler, L. B., Stetner, F., Tipp, J. E., & Johnson, J. (2010). Smoking, smoking cessation, and major depression. Jama, 264(12), 1546-1549.

Puig-Antich, J., Goetz, D., Davies, M., Kaplan, T., Davies, S., Ostrow, L., ... & Ryan, N. D. (2013). A controlled family history study of prepubertal major depressive disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46(5), 406-418.

Carney, R. M., Rich, M. W., Freedland, K. E., Saini, J., teVelde, A., Simeone, C., & Clark, K. (2009). Major depressive disorder predicts cardiac events in patients with coronary artery disease. Psychosomatic Medicine.

Williams, D. R., Gonzalez, H. M., Neighbors, H., Nesse, R., Abelson, J. M., Sweetman, J., & Jackson, J. S. (2007). Prevalence and distribution of major depressive disorder in African Americans, Caribbean blacks, and non-Hispanic whites: results from the National Survey of American Life. Archives of general psychiatry, 64(3), 305-315.

Blumenthal, J. A., Babyak, M. A., Doraiswamy, P. M., Watkins, L., Hoffman, B. M., Barbour, K. A., & Hinderliter, A. (2007). Exercise and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69(7), 587.

Nemeroff, C. B., Schatzberg, A. F., Goldstein, D. J., Detke, M. J., Mallinckrodt, C., Lu, Y., & Tran, P. V. (2012). Duloxetine for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 36(4), 106-132.

Belmaker, R. H., & Agam, G. (2008). Major depressive disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 358(1), 55-68.

Raedler, T. J. (2011). Inflammatory mechanisms in major depressive disorder. Current opinion in psychiatry, 24(6), 519-525.

Eaton, W. W., Shao, H., Nestadt, G., Lee, B. H., Bienvenu, O. J., & Zandi, P. (2008). A population-based study of first onset and chronicity in major depressive disorder. Archives of general psychiatry, 65(5), 513-520.