What is depression ?
One major source of confusion is the difference between having depression and just feeling depressed. Almost everyone feels down from time to time. Getting a bad grade, losing a job, having an argument, even a rainy day can bring on feelings of sadness. Sometimes there's no trigger at all. It just pops up out of the blue. Then circumstances change, and those sad feelings disappear.
Clinical depression is different. It's a medical disorder, and it won't go away just because you want it to. It lingers for at least two consecutive weeks, and significantly interferes with one's ability to work, play, or love. Depression can have a lot of different symptoms: a low mood, loss of interest in things you'd normally enjoy, changes in appetite, feeling worthless or excessively guilty, sleeping either too much or too little, poor concentration, restlessness or slowness, loss of energy, or recurrent thoughts of suicide. If you have at least five-of those symptoms, according to psychiatric guidelines, you qualify for a diagnosis of depression. And it's not just behavioral symptoms. Depression has physical manifestations inside the brain.
First of all, there are changes that could be seen with the naked eye and X-ray vision. These include smaller frontal lobe sand hippocampus volumes. On a more micro scale, depression is associated with a few things: the abnormal transmission or depletion-of certain neurotransmitters, especially serotonin, nor epinephrine,and dopamine, blunted circadian rhythms, or specific changes in the REM and slow-wave parts of your sleep cycle, and hormone abnormalities, such as high cortisol and deregulation thyroid hormones.
But neurosciences still don't have complete picture of what causes depression. It seems to have to do with a complex interaction between genes and environment, but we don't have a diagnostic tool that can accurately predict whereof when it will show up.
And because depression symptoms-are intangible, it's hard to know who might look fine but is actually struggling. According to the National Institute-of Mental Health, it takes the average person-suffering with a mental illness over ten years to ask for help. But there are very effective treatments. Medications and therapy complement each other to boost brain chemicals. In extreme cases,electrocution therapy, which is like a controlled seizure in the patient's brain, is also very helpful. Other promising treatments, like trans cranial magnetic stimulation, are being investigated, too.
So, if you know someone struggling with depression, encourage them, gently, to seek outcome of these options. You might even offer to help with specific tasks, like looking up therapists in the area, or making a list of questions to ask a doctor. To someone with depression, these first steps can seem insurmountable. If they feel guilty or ashamed, point out that depression is a medical condition, just like asthma or diabetes. It's not a weakness or a personality trait, and they shouldn't expect themselves to just get over it anymore than they could will themselves to get over a broken arm. If you haven't experienced depression yourself, avoid comparing it to times you've felt down.
Comparing what they're experiencing to normal, temporary feelings of sadness can make them feel guilty for struggling. Even just talking about depression openly can help. For example, research shows that asking someone about suicidal thoughts actually reduces their suicide risk. Open conversations about mental illness help erode stigma and make it easier for people to ask for help. And the more patients seek treatment, the more scientists will learn about depression, and the better the treatments will get.
Teen Health - Mental Health
Mental illness can affect anyone. mental health affects how we feel think and act. it's important at every stage of life so that we can cope with stressful situations, work productively,and make meaningful contributions to our community.
However, the statistics are staggering. over forty five percent of teens suffer from a mental disorder an done in five teens suffer from a severe mental illness -- that's 20% of our teen population. mental illnesses are brain function disorders. they have many causes and result from complex interactions between a person's genes and their environment.
A person struggling with mental health should not be viewed any different than if someone were experiencing a physical illness. Mental illness is not a choice or a failure. it does not discriminate. it can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, social status, ethnicity, or any other aspect of cultural identity. in fact, mental illnesses occur at similar rates around the world, in every culture, and in all sociology-economic groups. the concern with mental health isn't just about the statistics, it's about well-being.it can affect families, friends, and our communities.
you can help make difference by learning to recognize the signs of mental illness. a mental illness makes the things you do in life hard like work, school, and socializing. it's also not always clear when a problem with mood or thinking has become serious enough to be a concern. sometimes a depressed mood is normal such as when a person experiences the loss of a loved one. but if that depressed mood continues to cause distress or gets in the way of normal daily functioning the person may benefit from professional care. if you think you or someone you know might best struggling with their mental health it is best to consult a professional.
Early identification and effective treatment is key to treating a disorder and preventing future disability. a health care professional will connect symptom sand experiences to help formulate a diagnosis. suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people between 10 to 24. if you're thinking about suicide are worried about a friend or loved one or with like emotional
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