Every once in a while, events in our lives disappoint us and make us sad. Having lost someone very important could lead you to say ”I am so depressed.” Some people utter that depression feels like a black curtain of despair coming down over their lives. In our lifetime, it is quite normal to feel depressed on a certain point but chronic depression happens among people who are not able to recover from the normal cycle of sorrow. These are people who are not able to deal with stress.
Depression may be a state of mind but it is also associated to physical changes in the brain. Depression is said to be caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters that carry signals in the brain and nerves. Too much work from the stress respond system sends emotional centers of the brain into overdrive so that negative events make a disproportionate impact and hijack rational response systems. One literally can’t think straight. It makes one think over and over about the difficulties and disappointments one until that’s all one can focus on. Depression could be both caused by the genes or the environment. To a big number of the population, depression is hereditary. An individual tends to be depressed even when faced with very minimal stress because it may be inherited. On the other hand, there are people who are not able to adjust to certain changes in their lives, like losing a loved one, or even when after getting married, get depressed. These individuals may not have hereditay depression but still they are prone to be depressed when they are not able to recover from their cheerless moments. Moreover, a pessimistic personality characterized by a low self-esteem, and a negative outlook are at higher risk of becoming depressed. It is mentioned previously that being depressed is quite normal but this depression only goes for a short time. When depression prolongs, it could lead to other psychological disorders.
When one is depressed, one may feel hopeless and sad. You may not feel any pleasure from almost anything you do. Others either lose or gain weight because of changes in appetite. There are those who will develop insomnia while others would oversleep. Someone who is depressed can either be restless or exhausted that a little movement is a very great effort for them .
In taking a look at depression, one should also take into account diffrences in gender. Women are almost twice as likely to become depressed as men. This could be because of hormonal changes brought on by puberty, menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy. This fact might be debatable because in most cases only a small number of men seek help to cure their depression. Men usually disguise their condition with drugs or alcohol. On an interesting fact, a high number of men are seen to commit suicide due to depression. Another group of people who are prone to depression are the elderly. This can be attributed to the fact that most of them are having problems living alone with their children having their own lives already. Seeing themselves useless and unimportant could also lead the elderly to become depress.
Once you have the disorder of depression, the disorder wont leave you on its own. One must do something with it. We are lucky that in the present, treatments are therapies are easily available to teat depression. Supportive counseling helps relieve the pain of depression, and addresses the feelings of hopelessness. Cognitive remedy on the other hand, adjusts the cynical thoughts, expectations, and negative self-evaluations that create depression and prolong. This therapy facilitates the person distinguish serious from minor problems and it helps one to build up positive life goals and a more positive self-evaluation. Behavioral therapy permits an individual to make constructive solutions to certain problems. It helps the patient develop improved coping skills. For better and faster recovery, these treatments may be combined.
Depression is more of state of mind than of biological basis. Everyone can control their mind. The mind may be very powerful in instilling thoughts that could affect one’s judgment and outlook in life, but the individual is capable of allowing these negative thoughts to push them all away and choose to view the brighter side of life.
