What is a depression episode?

Period of depression: Clinical depression tends to be episodic, meaning that it comes and goes in many people. Depression may have many symptoms besides sadness including trouble sleeping, irritability, suicidal thoughts, changes in appetite, hopelessness, isolation etc. An episode of depression is when you have a cluster of these symptoms for a period of time.

A mental problem: Depression is generally considered a possible sign of a psychiatric illness; Sadness is a normal human emotion; Depression as an illness can be chronic (present al the time); It can also be episodic (it comes and goes); A person may have period of depression that may last several hours to several months and then disappear on its own; The period of depression is called an episode;