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Depression is a serious mood disorder that causes persistent sadness and negatively affects the way you feel, think, and act. It can result in a variety of emotional and physical problems including but not limited to loss of interest in activities and decreased ability to function at work and home. Depression will affect one in six people at some point in their lives and it's most common to appear in your teens to 20’s. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by 2030 depression will be the leading health concern for the whole world. Over the past years, there has been a noticeable increase in people with depression, and since 2019 SAMHSA, a national hotline whose main purpose is to help those suffering from mental disorders or drug abuse, has had a 27% increase in calls. But you don't want to confuse depression with sadness. All people experience sadness. So how do you differentiate between sadness and depression? Depression will stick around for two or more weeks. For sadness, it's more common for it to last for shorter periods of time and people are usually more able to take part in day-to-day activities.
Symptoms
Irregular Appetite
Poor Concentration
Low Energy/Fatigue
Mood Swings
Headaches
Feelings of Helplessness
Suicidal Thoughts
Guilt
Anxiety
Self-harm: Sometimes a coping strategy for Depression, Self-harm tends to start in the early teens to twenties, and most people who self-harm do so a few times and stop before creating a habit. For some, self-harm can provide a sense of relief and help to distract from feelings of loneliness, or hopelessness, and while for a lot of people, it doesn't become habitual there is a risk of it becoming regular.
Symptoms of Depression can change with age.
Treatments
Fortunately, depression is treatable and most people feel better with medication and psychotherapy. Other types of treatment include coping mechanisms such as working out and implementing routine. Unfortunately, though coping mechanisms can benefit someone they also have the ability to turn toxic and result in forms of self-harm. Depression is one of the most treatable mental disorders and between 80%-90% of people who experience depression will respond well to treatment. Almost all people who experience depression will also experience relief from their symptoms at some point. If you see yourself in any of the symptoms or think you might have depression it's important to talk with someone and get formally diagnosed so you can get the proper treatment.
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