I have just recently developed a blog site about depression, called Depression Hurts. For years I have suffered from depression, at different levels, some of them being major episodes and some more on a dysthymic (low-grade persistent) level.
What is depression?
There is a tendency to utilize the word depression to explain periods or episodes of despair that each of us experience from time to time. And for numerous people, during these periods it is not constantly easy to determine where normal sorrow ends and clinical depression begins. Yet, anybody who has ever experienced an episode of major depression understands - at least after the depression has actually raised - that what they feel is more than simply continuous or persistent sadness.
Depression is a disease identified by a cluster of sensations, ideas and behaviors that are incredibly distinct from an individual's normal variety of sensations and working. Triggered by a complex communication of biologic, mental and social factors, a significant depressive disorder can make a person extremely sensitive to life conditions, the least of which can throw him/her into total loss of hope.
Throughout a significant depression, someone can end up being surrounded by feelings of sadness, hopelessness, emptiness, and helplessness, and these sensations can distort every thought and experience, making life appear not worthy and hopeless. Feelings of being deeply and continually denied, not worthy, insignificant, and guilt-ridden build on sensations of unhappiness. At the same time, an individual might feel chronically irritable, typically exploding into anger and frustration.
While a major depression may be triggered by some life event or circumstance, a person's mood reaction may seem greatly exaggerated. However, depression has less to do with life's events than with an individual's existing vulnerability to the condition.
In some cases, someone may experience a major depression as a single episode, however in most cases, clinical depression tends to recur occasionally, reactively or cyclically. A major depressive episode might potentially last as much as 2 or more years.
When someone experiences milder depressive episodes, this is called dysthymia. For someone suffering from dysthymia, certain life circumstances, such as loss of a task, divorce, or relocating to a new environment, might provoke a much deeper depression.
For some individuals, there is a seasonal component to their depression called Seasonal Affective Condition (SAD). This is a kind of responsive depression that is more prevalent in northern parts of the nation where climatic extreme changes are higher.
Defining Depression:
Depression is an usual trouble that many individuals just think they require to live with, something they require to 'challenging out' in order to come out better for it. This is not necessarily the best treatment plan for this mental disease.
For some people, depression is simply a short bout of unhappiness that solves on its own. Some of the more typical symptoms of depression consist of:
Feeling sad
Feeling hopeless
Becoming irritated for no reason
Anger and frustration
Loss of interest in favorite activities
Change in eating habits
Change in sleeping habits
Thoughts about suicide
Diagnosing depression is tricky because it requires that you have these symptoms for extended amount of times - typically for a minimum of 2 weeks continually. And while some individuals can easily identify their down times, others might not recognize symptoms like anger as being consistent with depression.
