reactive depression
- noun
- /riˈæktɪv dɪˈprɛʃən/
- Specialized
:
depresión reactiva
- Many people experience reactive depression after traumatic life events like the loss of a loved one.
Examples
-
For over 14 months now I've been suffering from severe reactive depression.
Blog text (29) -
You see reactive depression, you see melancholia.
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There can be reactive depression, but often there's a clinical side to those cases too.
Blog text (18) -
By the time I'd finished LoC, I was in a bit of a reactive depression; how long was the next book going to take to come out?
Blog text (12) -
They can also highlight individual and family strengths while clients are analyzing their reactive depression to crises and stressors.
Academic text (2013) -
After losing her job, she found herself struggling with reactive depression due to the stressful situation.
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He sought therapy to cope with his reactive depression, which was triggered by the recent divorce.
Synonyms
A low mood that starts after a life event like loss or divorce
Antonyms
- Specialized
A long time of feeling very sad because of changes in the brain, not because of life events
How Internal
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'reactive' (responding to or caused by external stimuli) combined with 'depression' (a depressive disorder) yields depression that is triggered by events. This is a literal, cross-linguistically common concept (similar to 'situational depression'), so a learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Reactive depression comes from the idea that reactive means 'to react' and depression means deep, long sadness. Think of touching a hot stove and quickly pulling your hand away—feelings can 'react' to a bad event like that, so reactive depression is sadness that starts after a specific loss or stress.
