Introduction or preface

- This essay argues that changes in the diagnostic criteria of depression that occurred with the introduction of the DSM-III have resulted in the treatment of normal emotions of sadness as well as of depressive disorders. In fact, the new symptoms-based definition no longer allows the distinction of common states of unhappiness from mental disease. The authors explain, first, the reasons for this change and, second, the reasons for the desirability of reversing this trend and restoring the conception distinction between depressive disorder and normal sadness.Keywords: depression, DSM, medicalization, psychiatry, sadness, sociology of health.Parole chiave: depressione, DSM, medicalizzazione, psichiatria, tristezza, sociologia della salute.