Depresija

Depression

Depression is an illness that affects ones body, thoughts and mood. It affects the persons life style, the way a person sleeps, eats feels about oneself and surroundings. Depression is an illness that all of us experienced at some point of life. This illness might last for a day, month or even years. The most common signs of depression are: frequent sadness, tearfulness, crying, hopelessness, decreased interest in activities; or inability to enjoy previously favorite activities, persistent boredom; low eenergy, social isolation, poor communication, low self esteem and guilt, extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure. Some depressed people may also experience increased irritability, anger, or hostility, difficulty with relationships, frequent complaints of physical illnesses such as headaches and stomachaches, poor concentration, a major change in eating and/or sleeping patterns, thoughts or expressions of suicide or self destructive behavior (C.Busch, 2001).

Almost 20 million Americans experience depression and only very few of them will take treatment. Whatever the circumstances, depression is ccaused by an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain. Normally, these „chemical messengers“ help nerve cells

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communicate with one another by sending and receiving messages, and they may also influence a person’s mood. In the case of ddepression, the available supply of the chemical messengers is low, so nerve cells can’t communicate effectively (www.lexapro.com). Up until only few years ago used to be thought that depression is an adult illness only and that children and adolescence cannot experience it. It was proven that depression might affect all: adults, older adults and children and teenagers.

First of all, about 5 percent of children and adolescents in the general population suffer from depression at any given point in time. Children under stress, who experience

loss, or who have attention, learning, conduct or anxiety disorders are at a higher risk for depression (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2004).

Depression is one of the major suicidal problems during adolescence years. TThe research was done and found that depression is responsible for more deaths in youths aged 15-19 than cancer (C.Busch, 2001). Despite of these facts, depression is still very much under diagnosed in this age group and still affects children in their every day lives.

There are few very important signs of depression in children that a parent needs to pay an attention to: a child who used to play a lot with friends and was very sociable all of the ssudden does not enjoy that anymore; a child who suddenly loses weight, loses appetite, often tries to skip school. Teenagers on the other hand might become very unsociable, start talk about death and want to see oneself dead.

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Second, depression in adults is also a very common problem. The causes of depression might vary. It may be the side effect of medication or treatment; it could be stress-related due to personal or work issues; or it might be reactionary. Depression may also be the result of an underlying disease such as Alzheimer’s or a brain tumor – disorders that can affect the central nervous system or areas of the brain that control emotion (D.Kripke 1997-2001). Sufferers of depression very often turn to food for comfort. That might cause other illnesses such as obesity, which will make one even more depressed.

And finally, depression is very common illness in older adults. It is, in fact, one of the most common conditions associated with suicide in older adults, is a widely under recognized and under treated medical illness. In fact, several studies have found that many older adults who die by suicide—up to 75 percent—have visited a primary care physician within a mmonth of their suicide. These findings point to the urgency of improving detection and treatment of depression as a means of reducing suicide risk among older persons (http://www.mindhealth.com)

With aging many adults start to feel guilty or worthless, nervous or empty, not as physically active, very tired and lowed down, restless or irritable, feel left out, forgotten and feel not desire to live. If an older adult is ill that might cause a depression also, especially if illness interferes with the activities that are meaningful to a person. Also, older adults see that a lot of their friends passed away and become aware that their time also might come soon. The most common symptoms of depression in older adults are as follow: apathy, sense of emptiness, physical complains, loss of appetite, thought of a

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death or wishes to be dead.

In conclusion, depression is a major illness that might affect anyone, without paying attention to age, sex or social status. The most important thing one needs to realize that depression is a very serious illness .If untreated depression might even last for half a year or even longer. If lasting that long depression can make major effects on ones life aand relationships. Depression might be treated with medication, counseling or even using both. When the treatment is started a person will not feel better right away. The first feeling better might occur in about 2-4 weeks. It is important to know that depression is treatable illness. Right treatment and knowledge of this illness might prevent one from destroying oneselfs life. All of us need to learn to love and take care of people around and ourselves. Very often good talk can do much more than any other major medications.

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Work Cited

American Academy of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry 2005

Chardelle, Busch. Ph. D. Depression: What you Need to Know Indianapolis, In 2001

Daniel F. Kripke. M.D. Brighten Your Life, N. P. 1997-2001

http://mindhealth.com Depression

http://lexapro.com About Depression

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