Every person feels sad or blue now and then, but when emptiness and despair take hold and won’t go away, it may be depression.
Ask yourself, are you exhausted most of time? Does your pastimes and acquaintances don’t concern you like they used to? Do you suffer from hopeless most of the time? Do you like to feel better but you just don’t know how?
To help yourself feel better, you must know first your situation . Learning about depression—including its signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment—is the first action to conquer the problem.
Depression is a medical malady in which a person has feelings of sorrow, discouragement, and a lack of self-esteem . Some people account depression as “living in a black hole” or having a feeling of impending doom. However, some depressed people don’t feel sad at all—rather, they feel lifeless, empty, and apathetic.
Signs and Symptoms of Depression:
* Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
* Loss of interest in every day activities.
* Appetite or weight changes.
* Sleep changes.
* Irritability or impatience.
* Loss of energy, feeling fatigued, dull, and physically drained.
* Self-loathing, strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
* Concentration problems.
* Unexplained aches and pains.
Causes of Depression:
* Biological – due to changes in the chemistry of the brain, such as fluctuations in the levels of important hormones.
* Genetic – result of what you inherit from your parents. If one or both of your parents have a vulnerability to depression, then it can be passed on to you.
* Environmental (emotional) – result from stressful emotional situations, such as a lack of loving parents or the death of a parent during childhood.
– Trauma and stress. Things like financial problems, the breakup of a relationship, or the death of a loved one can bring on depression.
– Pessimistic personality. People who have low self-esteem and a negative outlook are at higher risk of becoming depressed.
* Depression can also develop due to a physical illness, a response to a medication that you are taking, or as an result of substance abuse.
Treatments of Depression:
* Ask for help and assistance .
* Make good life style changes.
* Search for professional help.
* Antidepressant drug therapy has been shown to increase the quality of life in depressed people. One of the medicines most prescribed by doctors is Zoloft. Zoloft is a prescription medicine used to treat depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder in adults. Zoloft is also used to cure OCD in children and adolescents.