A form of depression that incorporates some form of psychosis. Psychotic depression is the most severe type of depression. Psychotic depression can be present in one out of every 4 people admitted into a psychiatric hospital. The hallucinations can be auditory or visual such as hearing voices. Delusions may become prominent (having committed a crime and the police want to charge you.
People with other mental illnesses like Schizophrenia also experience psychosis. But those with psychotic depression usually have delusions or hallucinations that arrive after the onset of depression. In Schizophrenia there is no mood component, one can just have psychosis.
Risk Factors to develop Psychotic Depression include childhood trauma, sexual abuse and being elderly (60’s, 70’s and 80’s). Diagnosis can be challenging as some individuals with psychotic depression hide their symptoms to appear normal.