"Depression" refers to a spectrum of disturbances in mood that vary from mild to severe and from short periods to constant illness.
Although DD-NOS shares similar symptoms to dysthymia, dysthymia is classified by a period of at least 2 years of constantly recurring depressed mood, where as DD-NOS is classified by much shorter periods of depressed moods.
For the diagnosis to be accurate, a psychiatrist is required to spend extensive time with the patient.
These include: However, the effects of drugs or medication or bereavement are not classified under the diagnosis.
[3] Accurately assessing for a specific Depressive Disorder diagnosis requires an expenditure of time that is deemed unreasonable for most primary care physicians.