Brief introduction on depression

Depression also known as clinical depression, major depressive disorder or major depression is a medical illness, which involves the mind and the body. Depression affects a person’s feelings, thinking and behavior. It creates trouble in performing day to day activities. depression is a chronic illness and is characterized by feeling of sadness, anger, irritability, lost of interest in day to day activities, reduced sex drive, excessive sleeping, change in appetite (increase or decrease), crying, restlessness, fatigue, lack of concentration, constant negative thinking, headaches and so on. In sever cases, people also experience suicidal thoughts.

Depression affects different people in different ways. The symptoms may differ on men, women children / teens or elder people. In United States, the number of people suffering from depression and also deaths due to depression is increasing with each day.

What causes depression?

You have always been wondering what causes depression? Another possible question would be why some people suffer from depression while others do not.  Depression is an awfully serious disease and can be caused due to various reasons, which are as follows:

1. Biological factors

The following biological factors contribute towards depression:

• Genetic factors:  Depression mostly runs in families. A person might inherit genes, which make them vulnerable in developing depression. Again, it is not necessary that if your parents or close relatives suffer from depression then you must have it too, though it is common to a certain extent.
• Hormones: When a person undergoes some hormonal changes, it also affects the brain in some cases and leads to depression.
• Brain chemicals (Neurotransmitters): Neurotransmitters are chemical substances that responsible for the communication between the brains nerve cells. If there is a decrease in the neurotransmitters, it causes disturbances in certain parts of the brain and affects a person sexual drive, mood, appetite and sleeping habits and causes depression.
• Physical health: Depression can co-exist with other illnesses.
• Medications: Certain medications contribute towards depression. Say for example, reserpine or beta-blockers, which are often used for treating high blood pressure can increase the chances of depression.

2. Thoughts

• Negative thinking: Thinking patterns contributes towards depression. Overstressing the negative, taking the responsibility of bad life events but not for good events, thinking that others have a negative opinion about you, etc are some of the examples pessimistic thinking.
• Harsh self-criticism: Thinking negative about own self or judging yourself in a harsh manner might cause depression.
• Unrealistic thoughts: People who often have unrealistic negative thoughts about their future or situations are more likely to suffer from depression.

3. Emotional factors

Depression sets in motion with the following emotions:

• Anxiety
• Numbness
• Sadness
• Discouragement
• Anger / irritability
• Sense of failure: Inability to achieve goals such as getting failure in examination, not being able to get a job, loss in business or not being able to find a life partner can contribute towards depression.

4. Life situation

• Stress: Stress is one of the major factors that contribute to depression. Stress could be due to job insecurity, overwork, unclear job expectations, unpleasant work environment, etc.
• Loosing a loved one: Depression can take place due to death of a loved one.
• Isolation: Withdrawing from family, coworkers and friends leads to social isolation, which highly contributes in depression.
• Conflict: Divorce, separation from your spouse, loosing a good friend due to a conflict / misunderstanding, family crises or conflicts with work colleagues, customers or supervisors.
• Abuse: Past tragic events of life can cause depression in the later life such as physical, sexual or emotional abuse.

Treatment for depression

Medical treatment and psychological counseling, both are available for treating depression.  A number of antidepressants are now available, which should be taken after being prescribed by a mental health expert.  Lifestyle changes can help a lot in curing depression. Regular exercise, avoid alcohol, get sufficient sleep, meeting good friends, socializing, counseling for depression, etc can be very helpful in treating depression.