Depression: Out of the Shadows

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Everyone feels sad here and there, but for many people who experience depression those feelings can linger for years. Depression is a social disorder characterized by a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities, consistently for a 2 week period. “Depression is an under umbrella mood disorder that can cause people to feel hopeless, not have enough energy to get up and do things, it can affect people ability to live a day to day life , ranges from mild- severe or manic depression,” according to Valerie Labanca MFT. A 2003 National Institutes of Health study estimates that more than 16 percent of Americans, as many as 35 million, suffer from depression severe enough to warrant treatment.1 for depression including, psychotherapy, medication, electroconvulsive therapy, and Transcranial magnetic stimulation. Depression has emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms. The emotional symptoms of depression include depressed mood on a daily basis, low self esteem, markedly diminished interest or pleasure in daily activities, insomnia , hypersomnia , anxiety, irritability, aggression, feeling worthless, excessive guilt, suicidal ideation, and recurring thoughts of death. The behavioral symptoms of depression are suicide attempts, self harm, antisocial behaviors such as not going out, staying in the house, and not maintaining cleanliness and hygiene. The physical symptoms are significant loss of weight when not dieting, weight gain, fatigue, aches and pains, headaches. Just feeling sad does not mean a person depressed. A diagnosis of depression has to be made by a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists will go through multiple questionnaires with patients... ... middle of paper ... ...er, which has not yet found a 100% cure. Approximately 80% of people experiencing depression symptoms are not currently receiving any treatment.6 people are not seeking treatment. Experts still believe antidepressants and therapy are the best option for overcome their depression. Works Cited “Depression: Out of the Shadows”,PBS, May 21, 2008. 6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/pdf dep_stats.pdf Shah N, Eisner T, Farrell M, Raeder C. An overview of SSRIs for the treatment of depression [PDF]; 1999 July/ August [cited 2008-11-10]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder http://www.depressionsymptoms101.com/depression-statistics “Depression: Out of the Shadows”,PBS, May 21, 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/pdf/ dep_stats.pdf

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