All you need to know about Depression
What is Depression?
Depression is a mood disorder in which a person faces persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness and loss of interest.
It might trigger some other emotional and mental issues in a person. It might force you to believe that life is not worth living for. You might be unable to do day to day tasks. About 50,000 people commit suicide every year because of depression.
But don't really worry, every human suffers depression at least once in their entire lives, and most of us live through it. Feeling low is a part of life. No one leads a perfectly happy life. There are ups and downs in everyone's life and you might feel sad sometimes, but if the feeling persists for a longer duration of time, you might be suffering from depression. There are things you can do which will make you feel better, if you are suffering from depression. We are here to tell you about them only.
Causes
There is not one scientifically proven cause of depression. It may occur due to a variety of reasons. Some of them are listed here.
1.Major life event
Bad events, life retirement, lowering income, divorce might lead to depression.
Good events like getting a new job, graduation, getting married may also lead to depression, because of the stress of increasing responsibilities. There is no scientific explanation for this, it just happens.
2.Abuse
Any kind of physical, mental, sexual or emotional abuse of the past might also trigger depressive feelings.
3.Medicines
Some medicines which are used to treat pimples have chemicals that might trigger depression. Alpha-interferons(antiviral drug) and corticosteroids(a type of steroid) may also cause depression.
4.Genetics
If you have a family history of depression you might be more prone to depression compared to others. It might not be purely genetic, there are other risks too but there is a single gene that causes depression. If it's in you in active form, you might face depression.
5.Substance Abuse
If you have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, you might get depression more quickly than others.
6.Other risk factor
Low self esteem, being bullied in the past or present, death of a loved one, having anxiety, eating disorder or post traumatic stress disorder might also trigger depression.
Symptoms
People who suffer depression, might be constantly feeling low or maybe there are episodes in which they lose control.
The symptoms of depression are not easy to catch because you feel like that even when you are not depressed. Here are some symptoms of depression.
1.Tiredness or lack of energy even when doing small simple tasks.
2.Loss of interest in doing almost everything, even normal daily life activities.
3.Sleep differences like insomnia(sleeplessness) or sleeping too much.
4.Getting angry even on very small matters.
5.Feeling sad, empty, hopeless and tearful.
6.Trouble in concentrating and remembering things.
7.Feeling of worthlessness.
8. Anxiety and restlessness.
9. Unexplained pains in body and headache.
10.Not wanting to go out and socialize. Having the feeling that people irritate you.
11.Recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal tendencies
Prevention
Prevention of depression is very difficult because you don't know when it might happen or what can trigger it for you. But there are things that could be done on an almost daily basis if you think you might get depression, maybe because something has happened in your life.
1.Don't try to distance yourself from your loved ones. Getting lonely is the biggest trigger of depression.
2.If you are under a lot of stress, constantly try to control it by doing various activities like yoga and meditation.
3.Take medical help at the earliest sign of depression. If you think you might be getting depressed consult a doctor. It might prevent you from getting in the more complicated and bad phases.
Treatment
Treatment of depression is very important. If you know that you are depressed then you should take help before it's too late. Don't think that even if you do nothing it will go away, it might but it will return in an even uglier form.
Treatment of depression may be medicinal or in the form of therapy or maybe a combination of both. Some treatments are listed below.
1.Medicines
When you consult a doctor he might provide you with a variety of drugs that help in controlling depression. These majorly include, anti-depressant(that was obvious, I guess), anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic drugs. Each one of them must be taken after medical formulation only.
2. Psychotherapy
Talking to a therapist helps people in getting over a lot of problems. They teach you how to cope with those sad and negative feelings. You can also go for group therapy sessions. Meeting people who are at the same mental level at you motivates you in coping up with your own problems.
3.Exercise
Working out for 30 minutes daily helps you in overcoming depression. Exercising triggers the release of endorphins in your body. Endorphins are also called "happy hormones" as they are known to up lift your mood. Why else do you think children are happy after playing?
4.Say NO to alcohol and drugs
Drinking alcohol and doing drugs might make you feel better for the time but they are really bad for the long run. They themself are a cause of depression and are known to make the symptoms worse.
5.Take care of yourself
Do things that you like to do. Go shopping, watching soccer or cricket matches, going out for walks, participating in activities that make you happy, in short doing all the things you like to do make depression go away. Get plenty of sleep and eat a balanced diet too.
Conclusion
If you see any above mentioned symptoms in yourself or in someone else, try to talk to them. Please don't ignore the symptoms of depression. Get help for those who need it. Maybe your little concern can save someone's life.
Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and fit and Stay tuned for more.
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