Mental Illnesses

As society advances, we can claim more and more improvements in so many areas of life - mathematics, science, the arts, and certainly, the field of medicine. As new illnesses hit, we find cures for those we struggled with previous, making advancement after advancement. However, despite our improvement, there is one area of healthcare in which we are sadly behind - mental illness. Since the beginning of civilization, mental illnesses have been stigmatized, demonized, feared - pushed to the corners of society, and the corners of the mind. The fact of the matter is, these struggles deserve as much sympathy and care as physical diseases. Today, a few of these illnesses are just now beginning to come under scrutiny, as people attempt to reduce the

stigma around them and begin to look for treatments - and even cures.
Depression is one of these illnesses that society is just now beginning to examine. Affecting roughly 10% of the US population and an estimated 350 million people worldwide, it's almost startling that it hasn't been a focus of medical expertise for longer. Also called Major Depressive Disorder or Clinical Depression, this disorder is a life threatening illness with many harmful physical and chemical effects. The stereotype of mental symptoms being worse than the physical impact is simply a common misconception, and severity and effects vary for each individual. It is often defined as ‘...a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. [Depression] affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living.’ (Mayo Clinic, 2015) Some suffer shorter bouts of depression; however, it can last anywhere from two weeks to a lifetime.