Syndrome X, depression, and chaos: relevance to medical practice

The low detection rate and undertreatment of depression in general medical practice is pervasive. The persistence of this problem suggests that doubt remains within elements of the medical profession that depression is a medical condition meriting medical treatment, as opposed to an existential state, inevitable for the human condition. Depression is a physical and psychological clinical disorder which affects every aspect of human physiology. As such it deserves consideration as a comorbid medical illness requiring treatment as does hypertension in relation to diabetes. This article will illustrate how clinical depression is a comorbid medical illness requiring detection and treatment through the analysis of depression's impact on two conditions called Syndrome X. Conditions labeled Syndrome X in endocrinology and cardiology demonstrate how depression amplifies the pathophysiology of endocrine and cardiac disease and diminishes functional variability (regularizes variance) found in normal physiology.