Understanding Depression to Help Save Lives

Depression is real. It is often confused, though, with a state of sadness. If the person suffering from it doesn’t realize he is, so would the people around him. Though sadness is a part of life that all of us experience/go through (though we all experience sadness as a part of life), depression is a sickness that is much more complicated than being simply sad. There are scores of underlying reasons that can cause it. Getting axed from work, a beloved friend, pet, or a family member passing away, or breaking up with a partner are good reasons for one to be depressed. But a prolonged depression from what seems to be no apparent reason at all is an illness. And as an illness, it is treatable with proper therapy and medication.

Depression is tagged by most experts as a cause for increased risks of acquiring heart ailments, asthma, and other illnesses. Further, it can hasten the development and effects of these major health risks. Depressive disorders are classified into different types. The most common are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder (manic depression). Studies reveal that bipolar disorder is hereditary and runs in families. Severity, occurrence, and persistence of symptoms vary in each type. Not everyone suffering from depression experience all symptoms. Some experience few while in some cases, patients experience many.

Many studies have shown that women are twice more prone to depression than men are. Symptoms include an empty mood, frequent sadness and crying, decreased interest in daily activities, withdrawal, considerable changes in weight especially when there is no effort to gain or lose weight, marked sleeping disturbances like insomnia or oversleeping, restlessness and slowing down in physical activities, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, diminished mental capacity, pessimism, physical ailments that do not respond to treatments, and thoughts of suicide.

Diagnosing depression should begin with a self-test to determine if one should seek professional medical help. Several medications and health conditions can display symptoms of depression. A qualified physician should be consulted who will make examinations, tests, and interviews including medical histories. If the examining physician finds no relation with any of these, the patient is referred to a psychiatrist for a full mental health evaluation. Psychotherapies and breakthroughs in medical science promise better medical treatments.