Depression Everybody's mood varies according to events in the world around them. People are happy when they achieve something or saddened when they fail a test or lose something. When they are sad, some people say they are 'depressed', but the clinical depressions that are seen by doctors differ from the low mood brought on by everyday setbacks. Psychiatrists see a range of more severe mood disturbances and so find it easier to distinguish these from the normal variations of mood seen in the community. General practitioners (GP's) need to be sensitive enough to distinguish emotional reactions to setbacks in life