Meanings
alternative predepression
- not comparableeconomicsPertaining to the era immediately before the depression.First known use 19th c.
- not comparablehuman sciencesBefore a depression.
When recovering or recovered from depression, as the sources I consider highlight, some people seem to have a heightened appreciation of beauty, both when compared to when they were depressed, and also when compared to their pre-depression state.
2019, Tasia Scrutton, “Part III. The value of suffering [§] 11. ‘My horses and hogs and even everybody seemed changed’: Appreciating beauty in depression recovery”, in David Bain, Michael Brady, Jennifer Corns, editors, Philosophy of Suffering: Metaphysics, Value, and Normativity, Routledge, →ISBN, page 2132 more examples
Murphy et al. (1988) found that, when the effect of physical illness was controlled, depressed elderly patients (particularly men) had a significantly higher four-year mortality, suggesting that the greater mortality in the depressed group was not due to differences of pre-depression physical health alone.
1994, Peter Burvill, “Part 4. Affective disorders [§] 8. The outcome of depressive illness in old age”, in Edmond Chiu, David Ames, editors, Functional Psychiatric Disorders of the Elderly, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, “Mortality”, page 114A child who has dysthymia, or chronic mild depression, captured in the persistent depressive disorder diagnosis in DSM-5, a milder but more chronic set of symptoms over a period of at least 12 months, may not have the cognitive-developmental awareness that their depressive symptoms are different from the emotions of other children, or even their own pre-depression life.
2016, Janay B. Sander, Thomas H. Ollendick, “Part III: Common Problems of Childhood and Adolescence [§] 20. Internalizing Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence”, in James E. Maddux, Barbara A. Winstead, editors, Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding, 4th edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 396, column 2
Cite this entry
pre-depression. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pre-depression
“pre-depression.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pre-depression. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pre-depression,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pre-depression.
Source: pre-depression on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.