predominant kinds of depressive reactions

Depression is a state of behavioral shutdown. It generally emerges when individual’s patterns of investment fail to meet needs for psychological nourishment. As a consequence, the individual’s negative emotion system is jacked up and positive emotion system dampened, and they have lots of difficulty initiating new activities. Although depression usually makes functional sense, it also often makes things worse, resulting in a vicious cycle of shutdown.

Adjustment based: Sometimes called “situational depression,” this occurs when an individual experiences a significant life event that they cannot adjust to, such as a new school or new work environment or family life following divorce. Nothing feels right in the new setting and the individual longs for a return to the way things were. If the situation changes, mood usually returns to normal

Bipolarity: Characterized by individuals with very different “self-states,” one side that is energetic, enthusiastic, normal, and fine, and another side that feels completely different, bitter, pessimistic, hopeless irritable. May present as “crazy mood swings,” triggered by stress or alcohol use, but often reflect two very different ways of seeing/experiencing the world that the executive self cannot integrate, thus the person vacillates between them.

Complicated Bereavement/Loss-Based: Emerges when a loss—usually of a loved one, such as a spouse or child—is so central cannot be processed. The individual either cannot or perhaps does not want to “move on”.

Dead-ended/Impoverished: Emerges when there are no good avenues available for psychological nourishment; for example, an impoverished community or someone living in a desolate place or in a state of homelessness.

Double-Developmental: A chronic developmental pattern, usually starting in childhood. Especially prevalent if serious problems in attachment or major child abuse. It completely derails or disrupts the normal developmental sequence. For example, the normal seek and acquire processes driven by the positive emotion system are greatly impeded. The “double” refers to the fact that the person is almost always in a low grade depressed state and then dips into a Major Depressive Episode periodically.

Dysthymic: Now officially called “persistent depressive disorder,” this refers to a low grade negative or “blah” feeling that pervades the person for years. Related to personality traits of low extraversion and neuroticism. Used to be believed to be a "personality type," called a depressive personality.

Existential Meaninglessness: Emerges when the person feels there is no higher purpose or point to living that they can truly invest in. A pervasive sense of “what difference does it make” and “people are just bullshitting themselves”. May emerge after an individual loses their belief in their religious upbringing or as they try and achieve their life goals and either fail or find that even in succeeding they are hollow. 

Failure-based: Emerges when an individual is enormously invested in some particular achievement (e.g., a job, a research project, money, or an identity characteristic like intellect), and it fails resulted in shame, loss and paralysis. Similar to complicated bereavement, only here it emerges because of the experience of a personal failure.

Hopeless/Despair: A belief that nothing can be done to change the outcome. The race is lost and can never be won. Can emerge at any life stage, but is probably particularly prevalent among elders. 

Lonely/Isolated/Neglected: Humans are social creatures that need to be known and valued by important others. Many folks fall through the cracks in our modern individualistic society. They live alone or have no intimate relations and feel disconnected and unfulfilled.And loneliness is quite rampant in our society.

Melancholic: A deep physiological shutdown that is not very responsive to environmental or psychosocial interventions, at least in the short term. Slowed speech, trouble getting out of bed, fuzzy or distorted cognitive processes (as in delusions), a complete psycho-bio-physiological shutdown. Exemplifies a “disease-like” state of depression.

Neurotic/Negative Affect Syndrome: High in neuroticism (the sensitivity to stress and negative emotional reactions) with little distress tolerance, the neurotic depressed individual is anxious, worried, ruminative, defensive, perfectionistic.

Pain/Injury/Illness Based: It sucks to be chronically ill or in pain. Enough said.

Personality-Based: Chronic conflicts in identity, problems processing emotions, chronic relational conflicts and so forth give rise to a disaffected, shutdown mood.

Post-Partem: Given birth is a major process, both behaviorally and hormonally. Massive fluctuations, coupled with much stress and, if the woman is vulnerable, doesn’t receive much in the way of good social support and has trouble harmonizing with her child, shutdown is a likely response. And, it often generates feelings of self-blame and guilt for being a bad mother, which only makes things worse. 

Private/Split off: Happy or “fine” on the outside, this is when an individual experiences periods of intense misery that they cannot understand, accept, or share with others. So they suffer in private, hide their feelings and try to fake until they make it. Sometimes, though, they “blow” and then end up killing themselves and everyone around them can’t believe it because they seem fine. 

Rage-Based/Turning against the other: A simmering, irritable paranoia, whereby others are seen as the cause of all one’s problems. Likely a history of being betrayed or traumatized, of which the individual cannot let go. Often these individuals treat others poorly, which only leaves them more isolated and bitter.

Seasonal: As is often included in official diagnostic taxonomies like the DSM (i.e., SAD), a number of individuals get depressed as the weather gets darker and colder. This might relate to some sort of partial hibernation tendency, which would be consistent with the basic logic of the BSM.

Substance Abuse Induced: Secondary to becoming dependent on particular substances (drugs, foods, etc.), which are usually taken to dull the pain. Then, either the pain comes back and the person feels worse because of the problems of the substance use, or the person stops but is left feeling empty and experiences chronic withdrawal and cravings. 

Trauma-Based: When an individual experiences a trauma that cannot be integrated into consciousness, the episodic memory and associated feelings remains active and presses upon the individual. Flashbacks, intrusive imageries, nightmares, and so forth. It is exhausting, disturbing and paralyzing.