Depression
Depression is known by many names, including: Dysthymic disorder, Clinical depression, Unipolar depression, and Major depressive disorder.
Depression is a very serious medical illness that involves the brain. It's more than just a passing feeling of being "down in the dumps" or "blue" for a few days. If you are one of the estimated 121 million people worldwide (according to the world health organization) who suffer from depression, these feelings do not go away. Instead they often persist for days, weeks, and months at a time and interfere with your everyday life. Symptoms of depression can include:
Feelings of sadness, sorrow, unhappines, misery, and grief
Loss of interest or lack of pleasure in activities that you used to enjoy
Change in body weight either gaining or losing
Trouble sleeping or a tendency for oversleeping
Loss of Energy
Feelings of worthlessness
Suicidal thoughts
Depression can run in families, and usually begins between the ages of 15 and 30. It is much more common in women. Women can also get postpartum depression after the birth of a baby. Some people get seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in the winter. Depression is one half of bipolar disorder.
There are effective treatments for depression, including medications called antidepressants and talk therapy. Most people do best by using a combination of both.
In any given 1-year period, Close to 10 percent of the U.S. population, suffer from a depressive illness5 The financial and economic impact for this disorder is high and is one of the leading causes of disability, but the cost in human suffering cannot be measured. Depressive illnesses often interfere with normal daily functioning and cause suffering and pain not only to those who have the symptoms of depression, but also to those who care about them. Serious depression can destroy family life as well as the life of the ill person. But much of this suffering is unnecessary.
Unfortunately most people with depression do not seek treatment, although the great majority even those whose depression is extremely severe can be helped. Thanks to years of fruitful research, there are now medications and psychosocial therapies such as cognitive/behavioral, "talk" or interpersonal that ease the pain of depression.
Unfortunately, many people do not recognize that depression is a treatable illness. If you feel that you or someone you care about is one of the many undiagnosed depressed people in this country, the information presented here may help you take the steps that may save your own or someone else's life.
WHAT IS DEPRESSION?
Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, emotions, and thoughts. It affects the person's eating and sleeping habits, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. Depression is not the same as a passing bad mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People with depression cannot merely "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people who suffer from depression.
TYPES OF DEPRESSION
Depressive disorders come in different forms, just as is the case with other illnesses such as heart disease. This pamphlet briefly describes three of the most common types of depressive disorders. However, within these types there are variations in the number of symptoms, their severity, and persistence.
Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms (see symptom list) that interfere with the ability to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy once pleasurable activities. Such a disabling episode of depression may occur only once but more commonly occurs several times in a lifetime.
A less severe type of depression, dysthymia, involves long-term, chronic symptoms that do not disable, but keep one from functioning well or from feeling good. Many people with dysthymia also experience major depressive episodes at some time in their lives.
Another type of depression is bipolar disorder, also called manic-depressive illness. Not nearly as prevalent as other forms of depressive disorders, bipolar disorder is characterized by cycling mood changes: severe highs (mania) and lows (depression). Sometimes the mood switches are dramatic and rapid, but most often they are gradual. When in the depressed cycle, an individual can have any or all of the symptoms of a depressive disorder. When in the manic cycle, the individual may be overactive, overtalkative, and have a great deal of energy. Mania often affects thinking, judgment, and social behavior in ways that cause serious problems and embarrassment. For example, the individual in a manic phase may feel elated, full of grand schemes that might range from unwise business decisions to romantic sprees. Mania, left untreated, may worsen to a psychotic state.
Learn more about the Types of Depression