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Depression, is the leading cause of disability, in the world. In the United States, close to 10% of adults, struggle with depression.
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But because it is mental illness, it can be lot harder to understand, than, say, high cholesterol.
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One major source of confusion, is the difference between having depression, and just feeling depressed.
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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 feeling of sadness.
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Sometimes, there is no trigger at all. It just pops out of the blue. Then, circumstances change, and those sad feelings disappear.
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Clinical depression, is different. It’s a medical disorder, and it won’t go away, just because you want it to.
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It, lingers for at least two consecutive weeks, and significantly interferes with one’s ability to work, play, or love.
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Depression can have lot of different symptoms: a low mood, loss of interest in things you’d normally enjoy, changes in appetite, feeling worthless, or excessively guilty.
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sleeping either too much, or too little, poor concentration, restlessness or slowness, loss of energy, or recurrent thoughts, of suicide.
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If, you have at least five of those symptoms, according to psychiatric guidelines, you, qualify for diagnosis of depression.
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And it’s not just behavioral symptoms. Depression, has physical manifestations inside the brain.
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First of all, there are changes that could be seen with the naked eye, and X-ray vision. This, includes smaller frontal lobes, and hippocamal volumes.
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On a more micro-scale, depression, is associated with a few things; the abnormal transmission or depletion of certain neurotransmitters, especially serotonin, and dopamine,
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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, of thyroid hormones.
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But neuroscientists, still don’t have a complete picture of what causes depression. It seems, to have to do with complex interaction between genes, and environment
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but we don’t have a diagnostic tool, that can accurately predict, where or when it will show up.
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And because, depression symptoms, are intangible, it’s hard to know, who might look fine, but is actually struggling.
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According to the, National Institute of Mental Health, it takes an average person. suffering with a mental illness, over ten years to ask for help.
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But there are very effective treatments. Medications, and therapy complement, each other to boost brain chemicals.
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In extreme cases, electro-convulsive therapy, which is like a controlled seizure in the patient’s brain, is also very helpful.
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Other promising treatments, like transcranial magnetic stimulation, are being investigated, too.
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So, if you know someone struggling with depression, encourage them, gently, to seek out some of these options.
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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.
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To someone with depression, these first steps can seem insurmountable.
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If they feel guilty, or ashamed, point out that depression, is a medical condition, just like asthma or diabetes.
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It’s not a weakness, or a personality trait, and they shouldn’t expect themselves, to just get over it, any more, than they could get themselves, over a broken arm.
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If, you haven’t experienced depression yourself, avoid comparing it, to times you have felt down.
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Comparing, what they are experiencing to normal, temporary feelings of sadness, can make them feel guilty, for struggling.
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Even just talking about depression openly, can help. For example, research shows that, asking someone about suicidal thoughts, actually reduces their suicide risk.
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Open conversations about mental illness, help erode stigma, and make it easier for people to ask for help.
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And the more patients, seek treatment, the more scientists, will learn about depression, and the better the treatments will get.