Depression - Photo Copyright MediaWiki (cc)

This article will discuss depression and the different types of depression.

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There are a lot of debilitating illnesses in the world today. Unfortunately, many people are not as aware of certain illnesses as they should be. One of these illnesses that need to be highlighted is depression.

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Depression

Depression can affect anyone, of any age, and from any walk of life. This mental illness affects millions of people all over the world, and some people are not even aware that they are suffering from it. So, what is depression? How does it affect the sufferer? Let’s take a look.

Depression affects people in many different ways. Some of the signs and symptoms are not even visible to the sufferer, let alone anyone else around them. When people think of depression they will usually picture someone who is very sad all of the time. However, it is certainly not as black and white as this. For some people, depression can completely consume them and change their day to day lives for a long time. Some people may feel hopeless and helpless, like the world is against them and there is no way out. For some people, depression presents itself in a totally different way.

For example, many people suffer with physical symptoms of depression rather than the mental symptoms. Symptoms such as fatigue, exhaustion, nausea, light headedness and many, many more can all be associated with depression. So, what actually causes depression? There can be a whole multitude of different things that could cause depression. For example, it could be triggered by bereavement, or a change in financial circumstances. It could simply be due to stress. For some people, there is a chemical imbalance in the brain that can trigger and cause clinical depression. Of course, there is more than one kind of depression.

Manic depression for example is a disorder in which the sufferer will experience episodes of complete mania where they feel like they can take on the whole world, and the next minute come crashing down to earth with a bang and get stuck in an intense state of depression. Another very common type of depression is postnatal depression. This is experienced by some new mothers. This is caused by hormones in the body changing as the pregnancy goes on. Fortunately, all of these types of depression are highly manageable and treatable.

Many people will go to a doctor to get medication prescribed. There are a lot of different types of medication that are used to treat depression, and some work better than others. However, everyone will respond differently to them. Some people will choose to see a counsellor who will try to treat the patient through a series of one to one sessions. There are many, many options available in this day and age to treat the common disorder of depression. However, it is a disorder that more people should be aware of because it is something that anyone can suffer with, and awareness is incredibly important in how people with depression are portrayed.

Videos

A quick video about what it can be like to live with depression.

Useful websites

Links to sites that may be useful for people who want to find out more about depression:

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