Clinical Depression

Last Updated On: 20 September 2025

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, there are two main categories of depression—major depressive disorder and dysthymia (mild depression) — and a grouping of other, less common types. There are also a number of other mood disorders that can cause depression symptoms

Is Depression a sign of the times we live in, is there more of it now, or is it being diagnosed more easily due to better information?  Check out this YouTube clip of Kevin and Perry from the Harry Enfield show:

We all recognize the stance of an adolescent as slumped with head lowered and chin down and in yoga it can be addressed through through gentle exercise, like this yoga pose.

These are the main experiences of of depression:

• Depression can be treated with medication and is something that’s often temporary, where you get past it because it’s attached to something temporary; loss of job, bereavement, divorce, etc. Depressive leans more towards low energy with little productivity, internalising life, and over-thinking, under-activity
• Clinical depression displays a range of mood swings that either see-saw between mania and depressive phases.
  Bipolar Syndrome

Some people are stuck in one of those phases:

Long-term mania shows up as hyper-busy, where you’ll get through a super-human amount of work, or even crash and burn. How it makes you feel will turn into how you view it, it happens to suit some people and not others.

Many of these conditions are prescribed life-long medication, where sufferers are given to understand it’s the only way of managing it, accompanied by long bouts of counselling.

This was not Brian’s experience when he came to work with me, you can Brian’s interview.

Stephen Fry

As a sufferer himself, Stephen Fry’s condition is the classic, mood swinging between each of the high and low energy phases. And in 2006 he made a BBC television documentary that ran over two episodes.

He interviewed a handful of celebrity friends with a similar diagnosis, among which were Carrie Fisher (who we’re advised is housebound through it), Robbie Williams battling the condition and comedian Tony Slattery who’s been noticeably absent from the comedy circuit. 

The one thing that struck home was their seeming attachment to the condition, as each said how creative and intense the up-phase was in compensation for the darker mood-swings, in a Jackal and Hyde type of existence.

It only takes one

However, there was a woman who stood out as one of a few non-celebrities interviewed, but her difference far outweighed that of the celebrities. She told how she’d been incarcerated in what had formerly been an asylum, now a day-care-centre.

We visited the building, with it’s chilling air of imprisonment as seen from the exterior view of high brick walls and tiny bar-grill style windows, but where she stood out as being the only interviewee who cleared herself of the condition.

An alternative way

How did she do it?  One of the major things she altered was her diet and to illustrate the point we accompanied her to a fish market where she talked about the benefits of Omega Oils found in certain fish.  It transpired that she’s a GP and post-diagnosis said she’d had to lie to get back into employment (in that role) once she became well again, but it turned into their gain because she now specialises as A Practice Mental Health Expert where all her patients benefit from the personal experience she brings to the table.

Her message was encouraging as she asserted that most people suffer some form of mental health condition, during their lifetime, quite commonly post-natal depression is one such area and she works to educate people in challenging the stigma around the problem. For me she was the one who gave a beacon of hope to the audience, and made the celebrity element seem a tad precious.

Stephen Fry’s question

One question that Fry asked everyone, towards the end of their interview, if they had a choice would they keep the condition or be free of it, and with the exception of the Doctor each responded with a resounding NO. The reason they all gave was to do with the high of the mania around manic-depression, and the inherent benefits they felt from that.

If you’ve been diagnosed what can you do about it?

It’s important to understand that current scientific information is filtering through around the mind-body connection.  And what’s becoming quite evident is that whatever we think penetrates and reverberates throughout our cellular system reflects our mindset and physiology including our mood.  

And what the documentary highlights, was that wanting the change and be free of depression is the first step to becoming free of it.

META-Health has a different take

However, META-Health has a very interesting take on mental health issues and a see-saw of mood-swings in particular, because it looks for the UDIN that created the pattern in the first place, and is what I use to support my clients in addressing it’s hold,

This is better understood when you look at The Two Phases Of Disease, where you’ll notice that a conflict shock starts the process, but then continues to be triggered over and over.

The effect of that results in a manic or depressive phase. Or neither. However, even when neither of these is at play, they’re ready to be re-triggered by the next UDIN-related event.

Not necessarily easy to understand at the get-go, but I hope it gives some indication.

Take the next steps

Are you ready to take some steps to change your mood swings because you can.

P.S. I’d love to hear what you helps you dig yourself out of the funk? And if you need help in making a really substantial change I’m happy to offer a chance to unravel what’s going on when you:

Book a free Access All Areas assessment