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endogenous depression

endogenous depression

7.8
A long time of feeling very sad because of changes in the brain, not because of life events
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈdɒdʒənəs dɪˈprɛʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : depresión endógena
  • Treatment for endogenous depression often involves medication that targets biological imbalances in the brain.

Examples

  • Many people with endogenous depression experience severe symptoms even when their lives are otherwise stable.

  • There are clinical symptoms of endogenous depression.

  • Doctors diagnosed her condition as endogenous depression, which meant it was caused by internal factors rather than external events.

Antonyms

reactive depression
  • Specialized
6.9

A period of deep sadness and low energy after a stressful life event

How Internal

endogenous depression
  • Specialized
7.8
reactive depression
  • Specialized
6.9

Surface Forms

Morphology

endogenous + depression

The meaning 'depression arising from internal or biological factors' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'endogenous' (arising from within) with 'depression' (a depressive disorder). Although somewhat technical, the adjective+noun composition follows normal compositional semantics and similar constructions exist cross-linguistically, so a learner who knows both constituents would infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The word endogenous depression comes from the parts endo-, meaning 'inside', and -genous, meaning 'born' or 'from', which gives the picture of a problem that starts inside the body. So, endogenous depression means a low mood thought to come from inside the body, like from genes or brain chemicals, not from outside life events.