What is Depression?

Depression is an illness that affects your mood, thinking, bodily functions, and behavior. The National Institutes of Health came up with the following checklist for symtoms of depression:
  • Persistently sad or empty mood
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in ordinary activities, including sex
  • Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling slowed down
  • Sleep disturbances (insomnia, early morning waking, or oversleeping)
  • Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
  • Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
  • Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts
  • Irritability
  • Excessive crying
  • Chronic aches and pains that don't respond to treatment

 

You're probably thinking: "Hey, I get all of those! I must be depressed."

But don't get off labeling yourself so quickly. All of us get some of these symptoms sometimes, but that doesn't mean we're all depressed. To qualify as being depressed you must experience at least four of these symptoms for more than two weeks. Depressions are the Big Bad Blues, and they significantly interfere with your ability to function in at least one of your basic areas of life: For example, you sleep way too much or wake up too early and can't go back to sleep; you gain or lose a lot of weight in a short period of time; nothing is fun anymore; or you call in sick at work because you feel so lousy. These things don't happen just once or twice. They keep happening for two weeks or more if it's a real depression.

Facts

Depression can occur from a chemical imbalance in the brain as well as psychological factors. Our feelings and thoughts, both pleasant and distressing, are the result of many electrochemical reactions that occur throughout our brains and bodies. Most depressions can be treated with chemicals called antidepressants, which correct chemical imbalances in the brain, replacing "feel-good" chemicals like serotonin that have been depleted because of stress, genetics, illness, or negative behaviors.

In contrast, people who feel blue experience short-lived symptoms of depression but continue to function in the basic areas of their lives. They're not at their best, they feel crummy, and sometimes it takes real effort to get through the day, but they get by. Soon they feel better. The blues fade due to their effort to keep going, or when the unpleasant experience stops, or when they find better ways to deal with the problem. Their symptoms may go on for months, years, or even a lifetime. The worse advice to give a depressed person is: "Pull yourself together." Or, "Enough already! Pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get going." Or, "Uh, hasn't this gone on long enough? Look at the bright side and all the good things you have." Nobody can follow this advice, no matter how much they want to, because their bodies will be so physically exhausted and lethargic and their minds simply won't allow it if they're genuinely depressed.

Depressed people are also often filled with guilt because they can't figure out why they can't shake their bad moods, and the comments from friends serve only to deepen the depression.

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