ABSTRACT
What is meant by 'Depression"? 'Depression' is an umbrella term which we use to cover a variety of painful emotional states. It may refer to a passing mood of 'being down in the dumps', or a more or less permanent state of misery. The miserable feelings may appear without apparent cause or arise in a particular situation. A simple example would be a boy tearing up the picture he has just painted, complaining: 'It's all a mess'; or a little girl sitting in a corner crying: 'Mummy's gone away and she will never come back', although told that Mummy will return in a quarter of an hour.
