Depression is one of several disorders affecting mood, along with mania, hypomania, and
bipolar disorders. The present chapter focuses on behavioral assessment of antidepressant
action in animals with a focus on simple tests performed in rodents. Many of the primary
symptoms of depression (depressed mood, low self-esteem, guilt, difficulty in concentration,
suicidal ideation, thoughts of death) are by their nature difficult to model in animals. This
problem is further confounded by their unknown etiology. Several theories have been …