Spring Break
Depression: An Overview
Ilana Rauch
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: Features
The struggle with depression has devastating effects on Americans. Depression itself is a symptom of many psychiatric diseases, the most common of which is major depression. It affects 21 million Americans any given year, and is among the most under-diagnosed diseases; ignorance and denial that the disease exists is widespread. It affects its victims on a social, physical, and psychological level, affecting the person's quality of life and the lives of their loved ones. Depressed individuals often stop attending school or work, and lose friends as interest in socializing is diminished. An otherwise vibrant, healthy life can be crippled by depressive symptoms. Due to the physical relationship between the brain's chemistry and the victim's symptoms, someone with a serious psychiatric illness cannot simply will their way out of experiencing the symptoms or snap out of the condition; their community and doctors must play a role in the healing process for full recovery.
Major depression, the most common illness associated with depression, is characterized by a depressed mood and possibly a lack of interest in or pleasure in normal activities. Other common symptoms include significant weight change, insomnia or hypersomnia, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt, diminished ability to think, indecisiveness, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Some physical symptoms include joint pain, headaches, backaches, and abdominal pain.
About a third of people experiencing major depression do not seek treatment, and approximately a third to half of patients with depression who go to their family doctor do not receive a diagnosis of depression.
There is a form of major depression that occurs only as a single episode, which some psychiatrists believe to be a different illness altogether from major recurring depression.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder, is another illness with depression as a symptom. A victim of bipolar disorder experiences manic states, which oppose occurrences of distinctively severe depressive episodes. The manic states are characterized by racing thoughts, rapid speech, lack of sleep, delusions, and potentially hallucinations. The delusions generally involve feelings of grandeur, and hallucinations typically involve the victim believing they are or are talking to someone important. Those in a manic state may believe they have an unlimited amount of money and spend thousands that they do not even have, which can be very damaging.
Major depression, the most common illness associated with depression, is characterized by a depressed mood and possibly a lack of interest in or pleasure in normal activities. Other common symptoms include significant weight change, insomnia or hypersomnia, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt, diminished ability to think, indecisiveness, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Some physical symptoms include joint pain, headaches, backaches, and abdominal pain.
About a third of people experiencing major depression do not seek treatment, and approximately a third to half of patients with depression who go to their family doctor do not receive a diagnosis of depression.
There is a form of major depression that occurs only as a single episode, which some psychiatrists believe to be a different illness altogether from major recurring depression.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder, is another illness with depression as a symptom. A victim of bipolar disorder experiences manic states, which oppose occurrences of distinctively severe depressive episodes. The manic states are characterized by racing thoughts, rapid speech, lack of sleep, delusions, and potentially hallucinations. The delusions generally involve feelings of grandeur, and hallucinations typically involve the victim believing they are or are talking to someone important. Those in a manic state may believe they have an unlimited amount of money and spend thousands that they do not even have, which can be very damaging.
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