Extremely depressed and confused about partners holding hands (6)
I believe the answer is:
lowest
'extremely depressed' is the definition.
'confused about partners holding hands' is the wordplay.
'confused' becomes 'lost' ('lost' can be a synonym of 'confused').
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'partners holding hands' becomes 'we' (east and west are teammates in bridge).
'lost' enclosing 'we' is 'LOWEST'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for lowest that I've seen before include "Towels for the most humble" , "very close to the ground" , "Nearest the ground" , "Minimum" , "Owlets at the bottom level" .)