I think if I hear one more person say that overcoming depression is simply mind over matter, I will pull their hair out! Depression is not a choice. It's an illness - millions are afflicted with it and it's about as easy to "get over" as cancer.
According to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, "Clinical depression is a medical illness which affects millions of people each year. Though people often get the "blues," clinical depression causes persistent changes in some persons mood, behavior, and feelings. The illness interferes with and disrupts a persons' education, job and family life. No amount of "cheering up" can make it go away, and neither can "keep a stiff upper lip" nor "toughing it out." No amount of exercise, vitamins, or vacation can make clinical depression disappear. People with clinical depression need to get proper treatment which usually includes medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of both."
There are nine classic symptoms of clinical depression:
- Feelings of sadness or irritability
- Loss of interest in sex and other activities once enjoyed
- Changes of weight or appetite
- Changes in sleeping patterns
- Feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
- Inability to concentrate, remember things, or make decisions
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Restlessness or decreased activity noticed by others
- Thoughts of suicide or death
Causes of Clinical Depression vary greatly. Most theories expound on depression resulting from chemicals in the brain and possibly hormones that can influence our habits and behaviors. This interaction of chemicals and hormones can be linked to external causes - family history of illness, psychological make-up, prolonged stress and a traumatic crisis, such as death, job loss, divorce, and so on.
Medical research has found that people who suffer from clinical depression have changes in important brain chemicals, such as serotonin and norepinephrine.
"It's important to understand that depression is a treatable illness. The negative thoughts and feelings such as worthlessness, helplessness or hopelessness that often accompanies depression will fade with proper treatment. Unfortunately, without treatment, these symptoms may sometimes lead to suicidal thoughts or behaviors." Getting help is essential!
What can you do to help a family member or friend that you think may be depressed? Help them get appropriate diagnosis and treatment. This may involve encouraging the individual to stay in treatment until the symptoms are relieved or to encourage the individual to seek different treatment if symptoms do not abate. In addition, offering emotional support such as affection, patience, encouragement and understanding is extremely important.
The important thing to understand that depression is not "the blues". We all get depressed at some time or other because of something going on in our lives. Clinical depression is not feeling low. Most clinically depressed patients don't complain of feeling low. They simply don't feel at all. They don't care about anything and live in a fog that is hard to penetrate.
Depression has long been an untalked about issue. Being clinically depressed is nothing to be ashamed about. It's an illness, like any other, except that it affects our brain instead of other organs. If left untreated, it can also kill and if we don't learn to discuss it openly and with sensitivity and understanding, the suicide rate will continue to climb.
As a matter of fact, out of the 34,000 suicides every year in the U.S., 90% have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death. And out of those suicides, there are an additional 8-25 people who will attempt suicide.
So next time, you hear someone talking about being depressed, don't dismiss it and tell them to snap out of it or that they'll get over it. It's not that simple.
What can you do to help a family member or friend that you think may be depressed? Help them get appropriate diagnosis and treatment. This may involve encouraging the individual to stay in treatment until the symptoms are relieved or to encourage the individual to seek different treatment if symptoms do not abate. In addition, offering emotional support such as affection, patience, encouragement and understanding is extremely important.
The important thing to understand that depression is not "the blues". We all get depressed at some time or other because of something going on in our lives. Clinical depression is not feeling low. Most clinically depressed patients don't complain of feeling low. They simply don't feel at all. They don't care about anything and live in a fog that is hard to penetrate.
Depression has long been an untalked about issue. Being clinically depressed is nothing to be ashamed about. It's an illness, like any other, except that it affects our brain instead of other organs. If left untreated, it can also kill and if we don't learn to discuss it openly and with sensitivity and understanding, the suicide rate will continue to climb.
As a matter of fact, out of the 34,000 suicides every year in the U.S., 90% have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death. And out of those suicides, there are an additional 8-25 people who will attempt suicide.
So next time, you hear someone talking about being depressed, don't dismiss it and tell them to snap out of it or that they'll get over it. It's not that simple.
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