What is Depression?
Depression is a mental disorder where a person has a prolonged period of sadness, unhappiness, helplessness, hopelessness or worthlessness amongst others.
These painful feelings often get worse over a period of time, causing a person to have feelings of self-
Depression is an extremely common illness.
There are approximately 350 million people living in the world today who are affected by it and it is the leading cause for a visit to see a GP or doctor.
Depression also has a stigma attached to it that people who suffer from it are weak, which leads them not to seek treatment –
Long-
The worst cases of depression can lead to a sufferer taking his or her own life. An estimated 1 million people worldwide commit suicide every year because of depression. Half of all the people who die by suicide have major depressive disorders.
The World Health Organization reported that by the year 2020, depression will be the second biggest cause of premature death in the world, heart disease will be the only illness or disease that causes more.
What Causes Depression?
There are many different causes for depression. It has many different triggers and there are multiple reasons as to why it can develop.
Personal Factors are known to trigger depression. Those who have a tendency to worry a lot, have low self-
Depression has been known to run in families and some people will be at an increased hereditary or genetic risk. This does not mean that a person will automatically experience depression if a parent or close relative has had the illness though.
Life circumstances and other personal factors are still likely to have an important influence.
Having a serious medical illness can trigger depression in two ways. Serious illnesses can bring about depression directly, or it can contribute to depression through associated stress and worry, especially if it involves long-
Drug and alcohol use can both lead to and result from depression. Many people with depression also have drug and alcohol problems.
Symptoms of Depression
Signs and symptoms of depression include:
- Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.
- Loss of interest in daily activities. No interest in former hobbies, social activities or sex. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure.
- Appetite or weight changes. Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight a month.
- Sleep changes. Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping.
- Anger or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.
- Loss of energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.
- Self-
loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes. - Reckless behavior. You engage in escapist behavior such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving or dangerous sports.
- Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.
- Unexplained aches and pains. An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.
How is Depression Treated?
The most common form of treatment for depression is the use of Antidepressant medication. Nobody can say for sure at this moment why antidepressants can alter a persons mood, because nobody knows for certain exactly how AD medication works.
It is only thought that by increasing or decreasing certain chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin, that this has an effect on the brains neurotransmitters.
Antidepressants do not cure depression, they only lessen the symptoms for a minority of people who take them.
A recent report published in The Journal of the American Medical Association stated that the drugs work best for very severe cases of depression, but have little or no benefit over a placebo in less serious cases.
Antidepressants are also known to have side effects for the majority of people who take them. Patients will usually experience one or multiple of the following:
Nausea, increased appetite and weight gain, loss of sexual desire and/or other sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction and decreased orgasm, fatigue and drowsiness, insomnia, dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, dizziness, agitation, irritability, anxiety, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior –
Antidepressants come with no guarantee that they will work, on any level of success.
Further treatment options include counselling, psychotherapy or talk therapy. This has a much higher success rate than antidepressants overall, but the figures at hand vary wildly.
It is interesting to note, that many health professionals believe there are much better ways to treat depression. Irving Kirsch, the Associate Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and a lecturer in medicine at the Harvard Medical School is quoted as saying:
“Depression is a serious problem, but drugs are not the answer. In the long run, psychotherapy is both cheaper and more effective, even for very serious levels of depression. Physical exercise and self-
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) has a much higher success rate than medication. Studies have shown that it decreases the severity of depression in most patients who maintain a CBT course, with many patients reporting they never relapsed into depression again.
CBT based self-
Due to the pharmaceutical and medical industry’s wide-
One of these few researchers who dares to go against the current trend is James Gordon, a UK-
He is the creator of the “Destroy Depression System” , a simple, 7 step guide to self-
