... his interest, nothing gives him pleasure . . ." Kraeplin (1921, p. 76). Depression is termed an affective mood disorder due to the foremost feature of abnormally low mood. Depression occurs when feelings of sadness or grief are prolonged and exaggerated beyond what seems reasonable. Depression therefore ceases to be a symptom and becomes an illness, involving widespread depression of mental and physical functions. The patient appears slow and indecisive, increasingly unable to cope with everyday problems. Physical symptoms are often prominent because bodily functions are upset and because depression lowers the tolerance for discomfort and pain. Seligman (1975) describes depression as the common cold of psychiatry because it is also so widespread. Following the cognitive revolution in the 1960's, theorists began to use cognitive theories to explain affective disorders. Cognitive theories are mainly based on unipolar rather than bipolar depression, which is believed to have an entirely different aetiology. Therefore ...

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