To better understand depression and its effects on humans, there should be a clear definition of what depression is. The DSM-IV states that depression is a “depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day. Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day” (6). In Kramer’s reading, he mentions that the cause of depression is linked to chronic stress. Styron also concentrates on her experience in dealing with someone close to her that is battling depression. Rose Styron explains in depth how she is coping and what her husband is like when he is in a state of depression. As well as William Styron explains his perspective of how he deals with depression, and how he masked his anxiety. …show more content…
In From Visible Darkness he does this by connecting it first, with the term melancholia (William Styron 1). There is a stigma often associated with depression and the feeling of melancholia. Styron explains the word melancholy as “a true wimp for such a major illness” because the illness is so much more than being in a depressed state (William Styron 1). He doesn’t realize until later, but he used alcohol as an anti-depressant, to help him through his anxiety (William Styron 5). Alcohol plays a vital role in depression, generally called a depressant, but not for his case, he believes (William Styron 5). In experience, I have seen major alcohol abuse from someone who suffered from depression and I agree with the way he was feeling, because it matched with the person who also suffered. And I believe that person who used alcohol, used it to numb the pain that the depression was making them feel. Of course I don’t know why, in actuality, why they abused alcohol, but after reading Styron, I think I can form a critical opinion. After Styron stopped drinking, he became “vulnerable”, and he couldn’t come to terms with dealing that his mind was going “haywire” (William Styron 5-6). Without having alcohol, he suffered from anxiety more often than before. With the information, and from speaking first-hand about his illness, it is a lot more than just feeling depressed, he really doesn’t feel like …show more content…
They all show a different perspective in how depression is seen. Looking at Kramer, he shows an empirical side, while Rose and William Styron view a perspective of dealing and coping with depression by someone close to them, or having the illness itself. Taking all three sources together, it can be gathered that there is more to depression than just the feeling of melancholy and it doesn’t only affect the person that is suffering. Society needs to understand depression comes from within, internally, and it’s not as simple as a physical
Depression is considered a mental disorder that can lead an individual to commit suicide, experiment fatal risk that can injure his or her life. Furthermore, an individual feeling depressed lacks motivation to do anything progressive with his or her life. With that said, these individuals sometime gives up interest in activities that were once enjoyable, gets in a phase were he or she loses appetite, begins to overeat, loses concentration on what he or she is trying to complete, and becomes indecisiveness. Moreover, depression is a condition that makes an individual feel miserable, have no motivation to any activity that can influence his or her views, actions, welfare. Furthermore, depressed individuals at times may feel sad, apprehensive, desperate, destitute, useless, awkward, short-tempered, and agitated. In addition, the melancholy of depression is categorized by a greater concentration and length that is attached to severe symptoms. According to Wedding & Corsini (2014) states, “Physical disease, severe and acute stress, and chronic stress area also precipitating factors” (Pp. 240) of an individu...
By examining William’s personal struggle with the mental disorder of major depressive disorder the devastation this illness causes on the functioning of individuals is clearly highlighted. More importantly, the narrative reveals the importance of receiving help quickly after the onset of symptoms. The unfortunate truth of the illness of depression is that a large percentage of individuals wait many years to receive help and a small number do not even receive treatment for varying reasons. As a result of the individuals with depression who do not seek immediate help due to not understanding that what they are experiencing is an atypical response, the afraid of being stigmatized and learned helplessness, the mood disorder of depression acts like a silent
The memoir Darkness Visible by William Styron is about his experience and struggle with depression. William suffered through many tough days where he felt worthless and hated himself. Along with these thoughts, he developed a dependence on other people where he was afraid of losing things or people close to him. He feared being abandoned. The most severe symptom he had was recurring thoughts of suicide which was comorbid with alcohol dependence. William was diagnosed with unipolar depression which we now call major depression. He started having depression at the age of 60 and it was consistent ever since. His depression would be recurrent and episodes usually lasted for several months. It lasted for a long period of time because nothing seemed to help with his depression. When
Substance abuse plays a role in more than one of Poe's works. In the black cat alcohol drives the narrator to rip out his cats eye with with a pen and then hang the cat in guilt of what he had done. The narrator was a kind hearted man who loved animals and would do nothing to hurt them until he started to drink. He became an angrier person, always getting enraged with the people and creatures around him and his personality changed for the worse. Substance abuse changed him and drove him to be a different person than he really was. After killing the cat he felt little to no remorse for the deed he had committed and went back to his drinking and partying.Eventually his drinking led him to kill his wife, substance abuse changed him into a cold hearted man who could rationalize killing his wife and getting away with it.
Depression is an incredibly serious matter that affects many people around the world. It is fairly common for many people to experience depression in some sort of way after a tragic event, such as the death of a family member or the severing of a long-term relationship. In fact, some may argue that these feelings are indeed appropriate for the time being. However, for some individuals, these feelings of despair and stress can last for weeks at a time or longer. While some who are not dealing with depression may interpret the feelings and the mindset of those who are struggling with major depression as a case of “the blues”, depression is undoubtedly a serious condition when left to itself without any type of support or medication. Depression
In the disease of alcoholism, there are many psychological effects on the person. It can cause depression, anxi...
From the individual perspective, the client was a victim of child abuse, which led to feelings of fear and sadness and a desire to avoid these emotions. Socially, she came from a family of alcoholics giving her easy availability. There was also the pressure of keeping up appearances due to her mother’s status in society. The initial individual consequences of the client’s alcohol use were reinforcing. She felt invincible, warm, and it helped her avoid the thoughts in her head. Everything was right with the world as long as she was intoxicated.
For example, the character Timber experienced a tragic event which left his beloved wife, Sylvan, with brain damage, causing her to forget who he was. Her love and support was the driving force in his. Timber says “she’d come home at night and find me there and we’d walk into the house which was our home” (Wagamese, 2009, p. 205). His choice of words convey that the house was only a home when Sylvan was there. When she was taken away from him, he was emotionally homeless. With his wife needing care in an expensive special facility, Timber resorted to selling their belongings and eventually their house, making him physically homeless as well. This, in association with the loss of his wife, caused him to leave his former life. This response is similar to the “fight or flight” response animals and humans have with the presence of stress (Davidson, 2015). Timber chose to flee from his problems as apposed to fight to rebuild his life. With this behaviour, it is not surprizing that he also took up a drinking problem. Similar to the aforementioned Digger, Timber used alcohol as a means to self-medicate. He says about drinking, “it’s all [he] could do because [he] didn’t want to surface to the blackness, the emptiness of [his] life” (Wagamese, 2009, p. 208). Timber’s poor mental health and substance abuse only further contributed to his
Major Depressive Disorder, according to Coon, is a mood disorder in which the person has suffered one or more intense episodes of depression. Major Depressive Disorder falls under mood disorders subtopic depressive disorders (Coon 2013). “Psychologist have come to realize that mood disorders (major disturbances in emotion) are among the most serious of all psychological conditions. In any given year, roughly 9.5 percent of the U.S. population suffers from a mood disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011a)” (Coon 2013). I was one of the 9.5 percent. I have decided to write on this topic because I want to understand what causes it. I have been depressed before without medication or counseling and I wanted to know why do you get depressed and how does it impact you. This essay will talk about disorder information, disorder triggers, research on depression, treatment for depression, and theorist’s experiments for Major Depression Disorder.
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 is a serious mental health illness which affects an individuals’ mind, body and mood. It is a chronic and lifelong health condition (NICE, 2006) thought to be caused by a number of biological factors including neurotransmitter disturbances in the brain and an element of genetic vulnerability; these are often in addition to psychosocial factors such as the occurrence of undesirable life events, limited social network options, poor self esteem and the occurrence of any adverse life events during a persons’ lifetime (Bernstein, 2006). Depression can have an impact on a persons’ ability to do many things including working, engaging with others, participating fully in family life or maintaining relationships, and it can also impact on a person...
Generally speaking, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) references substance dependence (in this case, alcohol) as a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological symptoms that shows that the person is continuing use of the substance even with adverse effects on the individual’s life. Specifically, for a person to be diagnosed with substance dependence they must show at least three of the following symptoms; tolerance, withdrawal, substance being taken in larger amounts of over a longer period of time than intended, an unsuccessful desire or effort to control the use of the substance, there is a great deal of time devoted to the drug, important social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced due to the substance, and the individual continues use of the substance even with the knowledge that the substance is causing physical or psychological problems (APA, 2000).
Depression is well known for its mental or emotional symptoms. Symptoms for depression include: persistently sad or unhappy mood, loss of interest or pleasure in previously enjoyable activities, difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions, anxiety, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, and thoughts of death or dying. “People who have endured a major depressive episode describe the experience as a descent into t...
What is depression? Depression is an illness that can take over a person’s life---it can take their happiness and their will to live. This illness can effect adults, teenagers, and even kids. “Depression is an equal opportunity disorder---- it can affect anyone of any group, any background, any race, any gender, and any age. It is the great leveler of all groups and can take the greatest and the smallest of us all and reduce us to the pain and nothingness that is depression (Nydegger 1)”. Depression is an emotion most people may feel they have experienced, but little do they know it’s just the basic emotions we feel. It is important to identify the symptoms of depression, the types of depression, who can get them and how they manifest, in other to be able to treatment them.
There are many times where the narrator describes his actions towards his loved ones while under the influence of alcohol. Since the narrator is trying to draw the attention to his consumption of alcohol, he tries to make sure that his actions trace back to it. In the short story, the narrator says "But my disease grew upon me -- for what disease is like Alcohol !..."(Poe 23) which shows his addiction for alcohol becoming stronger. The narrator's madness seems to be heightened by the alcohol. He begins to chan...