Depression

Overview

Depression, a mental disorder is an illness of mind and body. It is generally associated with low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest in activities that are interesting. It can lead to many emotional and physical problems and make a person feel that life is not worth living. It is often called major depression, clinical depression ormajor depressive disorder. The condition can adversely affect the person’s family, work and day to day activities..

Symptoms

Depression is a real illness and has real symptoms. It's not a trivial or something you can 'snap out of' by 'pulling yourself together'. Its symptoms include:
• Feeling sad or low
• Excess sleeping or very less sleeping
• Eating too much or too less
• Thinking problem
• Loss of interest
• Lack of concentration
• Thoughts of death, dying or suicide
• Crying without any reason
• Frustration on small things
• Feeling restlessness
• Unable to make decisions
• Unexplained physical problem.

Causes

The exact cause of depression is not known yet. Though there are various factors that can contribute to a mental disorder. Some of its causes are:
• Events of life: death or loss of a loved one, stress, financial problem etc. can cause depression
• Hereditary: depression can run through families
• Childhood traumas: some incident during childhood like physical abuse, parent loss or other reasons can cause depression
• Hormonal changes: Changes in hormones or hormonal imbalance can often trigger depression.

Risk Factors

Depression can make a person socially inactive and can affect its daily living. There are various risk factors that can trigger depression. Some of the following are:
• Traumatic experience being a child
• Hormonal imbalance
• Women have greater chances of having depression
• Stress
• having problems in personal relationships
• loss of loved one
• having a serious disease
• consumption of alcohol.

Diagnosis

The doctor may perform a physical exam and he may talk about the patient’s thoughts and mood swings. He may look for the history of health conditions. The patient has to be frank and open to the doctor about his feelings so that the problem can be diagnosed properly. He may ask about the patient’s past episodes. Often doctors tell the patients to fill out a questionnaire to know the reasons.

Tests

The doctor may perform a physical exam and he may talk about the patient’s thoughts and mood swings. He may look for the history of health conditions. The patient has to be frank and open to the doctor about his feelings so that the problem can be diagnosed properly. He may ask about the patient’s past episodes. Often doctors tell the patients to fill out a questionnaire to know the reasons..

Treatments

Depression can change or distort you live and others around you. Depression can make a person’s attitude negative therefore it should be treated at an earliest sign.There are numerous treatments available for depression. Depression can be treated by:
• Psychotherapy-
A counseling session with a psychologist can be really helpful in treating depression. The psychologist may talk about you conditions andgive you key to be happy and enjoy life.
• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-
In this current is passed through brain to affect level of neurotransmitters in the brain. It has few side effects.It is used when depression is severe and cannot be treated by any other method and it gives fastest relief.
• Hospitalization-
In severe cases the patient is made to stay in the hospital under the supervision of care takers and nurses.Psychiatric treatment is given at the hospital to keep the patient calm.

Alternative Treatments

Alternative medicines strategies have proved effective in treating depression. Following are some of the alternatives:
• Eating a diet rich in Omega 3 fatty acid
• Acupuncture
• Yoga
• Meditation
• St. John's wort is a herb that can treat depression
• Guided imagery
• Massage therapy.

Medicine Drugs

Depression can be cured with the use of various medicines and drugs. These include:
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
• Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
• Norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitors (NDRIs
• Atypical antidepressants
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).

Complications

There are more of social complications associated with depression than physical. Some of its complications are:
• Socially isolated
• Disturbed relationships
• Heart diseases
• Suicidal attempts
• Work problems
• Anxiety
• Addiction to alcohol.

Prevention

There is no way to prevent depression however one can take steps to control it by boosting your self-esteem, being positive and controlling stress. Friends and family are very helpful during sad times. The last step can be treating the problem at an early stage to avoid complications.