Exploring Depression
December 26th 2007 -
Depression is a common and it is effects a great number of people around the globe. It is reported that it affects one in five Britons at some point in their life with a lot of financial burden that amounts to 8 billons pounds.
The depression can be characterized by profound feeling of sadness or loss interest along with a broad range of symptoms. Anyone, regardless of age, race and status can stay a victim to this condition. The loss of interest and hopelessness associated with this condition manifests itself by decreasing quality of life.
It is widely accepted that the symptoms of depression are different in different individuals so it leaves this condition hard to diagnose.
Understanding depression
As mentioned above, anyone can suffer from depression. The commonest symptoms are as under:
- Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
- Feeling useless, inadequate, bad
- A sense of self hatred, constant questioning of thoughts and actions and a constant need for reassurance
- Feeling vulnerable and being oversensitive to criticism
- Sense of guilt
- Loss of energy and the ability to concentrate and be motivated to do even the simplest tasks
- Harming oneself
- Sudden loss or gain in weight
- Sleep disruption or a need to sleep very long hours
- Agitation and restlessness
- Loss of libido
- Physical aches and pains
The severity of depression can vary, in extreme cases, suicidal tendency can develop and many a cases the sufferer may stop taking food and end up starving to death.
It is reportedly said that women are more prone to suffering from depression but suicidal tendency is more in men than in women. In most of the cases, the sufferers need medical advice and treatment to control these bouts.
Causes of depression
Depression is a complex disorder; therefore, it is not an easy task to give a simple explanation of the causes behind this clinical condition. The etiology of depression is multi-factorial.
In many cases, the tendency for this condition runs in families so it is said that it has a genetic component but it gets triggered by some stressful event in life. Apart from this, it is established that it occurs due to some chemical imbalance in brain.
Individuals who have low esteem, a pessimistic outlook on life and difficulty coping with stress are more prone to depression.
Treatment of depression
It is believed that people suffering from depression require medical advice and treatment. In recent years, the market has been saturated by a range of new drugs called anti-depressants. These include Prozac which is thought to stimulate the growth of brain cells in an area of the brain called the dentate gyrus. Other types of drugs may also be used to treat depression.
Other ways of treating depression include psychotherapy, which aims to uncover the reasons for depression and help the patient to find ways of overcoming them. Self help groups may also offer people a forum for talking about their condition and sharing it with others so that they do not feel isolated and alone.
In extreme cases, a person with depression may need to be treated in hospital, for example, if they are threatening or have attempted to commit suicide. If the person is deemed a risk to himself or others, he may have to be committed to hospital.
Besides psychotherapy and a course of anti-psychotic drugs, people in hospital may be offered or forced to undergo electro-convulsive therapy. This involves applying electric currents to the brain. The treatment is controversial, but safety procedures have been improved in recent years. Some psychiatrists are against its use, particularly without the patient’s consent, but others believe it can be effective in dealing with life-threatening depression.