Most individuals will first notice depressed feelings, such as a quickness
to become irritated or a loss of pleasure, that seem to outlast the normal
period in which they expected that they would get over it.
We often call this “depressed mood”-it's not yet long enough or severe
enough to be called clinical depression. Individuals who become more
depressed may begin to feel guiltier about things they have done or not
done. Their thoughts become more negative. Such individuals may have “mild
depression” or “depression syndrome.” The last symptoms to develop are
often the changes in sleeping and eating and the slowing of activity and
thinking. Once these final changes have occurred, it is likely that a
person has clinical depression.