One of the scariest emotional experiences a person can ever suffer during their lifetime is to experience a form of depression. Over one in five Americans can expect to get some form of depression in their lifetime. Over one in twenty Americans have a depressive disorder every year. Depression is one of the most common and most serious mental health problems facing people today. However, depression is often not taken seriously because of the large use of antidepressant drugs and the large number of sufferers. Depression is a serious illness and should be taken as so. Contrary to the popular misconceptions about depression today, it is a serious and deadly disorder.1 Depression in its various forms (insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, stress, vague aches and pains, etc.) is the most common complaint heard in doctors’ offices. There are three primary forms of depression. Major depression, like the flu, has a beginning, middle, and an end. Major depression often lasts for months. Left untreated, it tends to reoccur. Each reoccurrence tends to last longer and is more debilitating than the one before. Chronic depression is a low grade, long-term depression that can go on for years. Some people have had it most of their lives. Long term, low-grade depression is also known as dysthymia. Dys, meaning disorder, and thymia meaning mood. Dysthmia is then a disorder of ones mood. The last type is manic depression. The lows of this depression can alter with days or weeks of maniaextreme feelings, unreasonable thoughts, and inappropriate, sometimes destructive behavior. The manic-depressive person fluctuates from one emotional pole to another, often in rapid swings. 3 There are many symptoms of depression. Symptoms can include persistent sad or “empty” mood, loss of interest or pleasure in ordinary activities, including sex, decreased energy, fatigue, being “slowed down”, Sleep disturbances such as insomnia, early morning wakes or oversleeping, eating disturbances such as loss of appetite and weight, or weight gain, difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts, irritability, excessive crying, or chronic aches and pains that don’t respond to treatment. Many people who have clinical depression can feel down, sad, ... ... middle of paper ... ...gloominess, pessimism, introversion, self-criticism, deep feelings of inadequacy, and excessive brooding and worrying. People who regularly behave in dependent, hostile, and impulsive ways appear at greater risk for depression. Psychologists also believe that stressful experiences can trigger depression in people who are predisposed to the illness. About 20 percent of women experience an episode of depression after having a baby; this is called postpartum depression. Also, people who experience child abuse appear to be more vulnerable to depression than others.1 Depression affects people all around the world and takes over many lives. It is a detectable disease. Most every case of depression is very personal, and usually has it’s own specifications and circumstance. By speaking with people who have depression in their families and being a sufferer of the disease myself, I’ve realized that it’s not the end of the world and there are ways to get help. Treatment for depression is relativity inexpensive but whatever the cost; it is more than made up for an increased productivity, efficiency, physical health, improved relationships, and enjoyment of life.
Clinical Depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for weeks or longer. Clinical depression results from interactions between brain chemicals and hormones that influence a person's energy level, feelings, sleeping and eating habits, these chemical interactions are linked to many causes such as, a person's family history of illness, biochemical and psychological make-up, prolonged stress, and traumatic life crisis such as death of a loved one, job loss, or divorce (Clinical Depression).
Everybody, at a certain point in life, feels blue or sad. The feeling of being sad is usually short-termed and it passes away in the matter of hours or days. Depression is a common, but a very serious illness, so it is really important for the person who has it to seek for treatment. In majority of cases, depression is curable, and that is why people should ask for help when they are in need. There are many ways to effectively treat depression like medications, psychotherapies, and other methods. Furthermore, there are several forms of depressive disorders: major depressive disorder (major depression), dysthymic disorder (dysthymia), minor depression, psychotic depression, postpartum depression, seasonal affective disorder, and bipolar disorder. All of those types of depression are most likely caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. The signs and of depression are numerous, but not everyone experiences the same symptoms. The most common symptoms are: persistent sad or empty feelings, feelings of hopelessness, insomnia, overeating, and others. There are several forms of depressive disorders, which are considered to be serious illnesses, so it is very important to know their causes, signs, and symptoms to be able to make a diagnosis and treat them properly (“Depression”).
Clinical depression is very common. Over nine million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression at some point in their lives. Many more people suffer from clinical depression because they do not seek treatment. They may feel that depression is a personal weakness, or try to cope with their symptoms alone. On the other hand, some people are comfortable with admitting their symptoms and seeking help. Such a discrepancy may account for the differences in reported cases of depression between men and women, which indicate that more than twice the numbers of women than men are clinically depressed. According to the numbers of reported cases of depression, 25% of women and 10% of men will have one or more episodes of clinical depression during their lifetimes.
Depression is an illness within itself that affects the “whole body”. (Staywell,1998) The body, feelings, thoughts, and behavior are all immensely altered when someone is depressed. It is not a sign of personal weakness, or a condition that can be wished or willed away. For some people depression is just temporary, but for others it can last for weeks, months and even years.
Depression can have a great impact on someone’s life. Imagine trying to balance these symptoms while in school, work, or being a mother or father. Although while suffering from this disorder there are solutions out there
Childhood depression has only been recognized as a real clinical problem for about twenty-two years. Before that time, children that exhibited signs that are now recognized as depression were thought to be behavioral problems that the child would grow out of. Psychiatrists believed that children were too emotionally and cognitively immature to suffer from true depression. Childhood was thought to be a carefree, happy time, void of worry and concerns and therefore it was thought that their problems were not serious enough to merit depression. Traumas such as divorce, incest and abuse were not clearly understood how they could effect children in the long range. Childhood depression differs in many aspects from adult depression and widely went unrecognized academic performance, withdrawal and rejection of friends and favorite activities. Some exhibit hyperactivity, while others complain of fatigue and illness often. Many times these symptoms are thought to ‘be just a phase’ in their children, and overlooked as signs of depression.
Depression is a very common mental illness found in the everyday common man that is not taken as seriously as other mental illnesses. According to an article found in the Daily Mail by Jane Street-Porter, depression is a ‘misery movement’ that “...rapidly gathered momentum and in recent months it's become apparent that, along with the Sam Cam handbag, the latest must-have accessory is a big dose of depression.” This concept or idea of depression being trivial may result from not truly understanding what depression is and how it can affect someone. In fact, depression is a leading mental health cause of disability and a major cause of morbidity and mortality (Ashcroft et al. 1). But, there are also some people who believe that depression is
When you hear the word depression most think of feeling down or sad, but usually you don’t think of it as a mental illness or disease. In today’s society we hide depression from others because we feel it is not acceptable to be sad, or to let others know that we have faults. Depression is a darkness that can overwhelm you, it can take your happiness away and replaces it with negative thoughts. Many people use depression to attract attention, which gives depression a bad reputation. Depression is not just a sad feeling or an attention seeker like society thinks, it is a serious mental illness that is common in many Americans, makes it difficult to live in a normal way, can be life threatening, and with the proper help is treatable.
Depression affects everyone's life at sometime or another. Depression comes in a wide variety of forms, from mild unhappiness to a chemical imbalance in the mind. There are many different symptoms that reveal a person's problem with depression. If left untreated, depression may continue to develop into a serious illness or even death.
What is a Dysthymic Disorder, and how does it affect an individual? Dysthymic disorder is a chronic mood disorder that falls within the depression spectrum. This is a long-term, chronic disorder, but with less severity than Major Depressive Disorder. Just like major depression, dysthymia has roots in genetic, neurochemical imbalances, childhood and adulthood trauma, and social circumstances, especially in isolation and the unavailability to access mental health professional services. The stress that provokes at least early onset form is usually chronic. The criteria for Dysthymic Disorder states that an individual must have two or more of the following symptoms lasting for more than two years: feelings of hopelessness, insomnia or fatigue, poor concentration or having difficulty making decisions, low energy or fatigue, low self-esteem, poor appetite or overeating, and last irritability. Some of the symptoms will exclude mania, hypomanic or mixed episode commonly associated with bipolar dis...
There are many people in the world who are struggling with the disease depression. Depression is the state in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant. The thing about depression is that it affects both genders and any ages. Depression is something that deserves full attention. For many reasons doctors believe that when a person has depression, they have to start taking medication for it as if medications help. People are becoming more dependent on antidepressants when there are other techniques for dealing with depression.
The silent killer that takes lives without warning, punishment, or any sympathy; depression is truly one of the most prominent mental illnesses in the world. Depression is defined as a mental illness inducing a severe and staunch feeling of sadness. The term depressed is coined in English as a temporary sadness that everyone experiences in their life. Despite that depression is more active in women, it is still one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. It affects anybody, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic standing. Regardless of all these facts, surprisingly little is known about depression, however, scientists have been able to hypothesize major causes, effects, and treatments for the disability affecting over
Depression is a rapidly growing mental illness that strikes millions, but they never know the cause of this common, yet sometimes, harmful illness. If victims and potential victims knew what caused depression, they could do more to prevent it from happening. In order to know what causes depression, one has to know what it is. The online dictionary defines it as “a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason (Dictionary: 1)”.
“Depression is a condition in which a person feels discouraged, sad, hopeless, unmotivated or disinterested in life in general. When these feelings last for a short period of time, it may be a case of "the blues"” (Understanding the Facts), but when such feelings last for more than two weeks and when the feelings interfere with daily activities it is likely that you may be in a major depressive state.
Depression is one of the most common psychological problems. Each year over 17 million Americans experience a period of clinical depression. Thus, depression affects nearly everyone through personal experiences or through depression in a family member or friend.