5 or more of the following present during a 2-week period with at least one being depressed mood or anhedonia.

5 or more of the following present during a 2-week period with at least one being depressed mood or anhedonia.

• A. 5 symptoms with depressed mood or anhedonia
• B. 3 symptoms with depressed mood
• C. 4 symptoms with anxious mood
• D. 6 symptoms with psychosis

Answer: (A)

Major depressive disorder is diagnosed when at least five symptoms occur during a two-week period, and at least one of those symptoms is either depressed mood or anhedonia (loss of interest or pleasure). The list of possible symptoms includes depressed mood, anhedonia, changes in sleep or appetite, fatigue, psychomotor changes, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, trouble concentrating, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. The option with five symptoms plus depressed mood or anhedonia fits this rule exactly, meeting both the minimum symptom count and the mandatory presence of one of the two core symptoms. The other choices miss the diagnostic threshold in different ways: too few total symptoms, or lacking the essential depressed mood or anhedonia criterion, or introducing a specifier like psychosis without specifying the required core symptoms.

Major depressive disorder is diagnosed when at least five symptoms occur during a two-week period, and at least one of those symptoms is either depressed mood or anhedonia (loss of interest or pleasure). The list of possible symptoms includes depressed mood, anhedonia, changes in sleep or appetite, fatigue, psychomotor changes, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, trouble concentrating, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

The option with five symptoms plus depressed mood or anhedonia fits this rule exactly, meeting both the minimum symptom count and the mandatory presence of one of the two core symptoms. The other choices miss the diagnostic threshold in different ways: too few total symptoms, or lacking the essential depressed mood or anhedonia criterion, or introducing a specifier like psychosis without specifying the required core symptoms.