Mental Health Information
Does depressive illness follow a pattern?
Unfortunately, once a person has had a clinical depression, he/she is more likely to suffer from depression again. For example, some people experience seasonal cycles of depression, particularly in winter. This is called Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.).

Five to ten percent of people who experience depression also experience states of exaggerated happiness or elation called mania. The occurrence of both depression and mania at different times is called bipolar affective disorder, while repeated experiences of depression alone is termed unipolar affective disorder.

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Types of mental health problems
Despite the controversy surrounding the definitions and usefulness of the term 'mental illness', mental health problems today still remain largely in the province of psychiatry, and hence are usually discussed in medical terms.

Psychiatrists sub-divide the different kinds of mental health disorders in several different ways.

Organic (identifiable brain malfunction) versus Functional (not due to simple structural abnormalities of the brain).
Neurosis (severe forms of normal experiences) versus Psychosis (severe distortion of a person's perception of reality).
ICD-10 Classification, which lists major groups of disorders in related families e.g. mood disorders, which includes depression and manic depression.