Depression and Its Effects of Mind and Body

As a definition, depression is a medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. In my opinion depression is synonym of sadness. Every sense of yours is driven by sadness. Every action you take it will have “a negative consequence”. A depressed person feels locked inside his bubble and thinks that will stay forever in the “grey zone”. He feels like nobody understands him and everybody has bad intentions related to him.

Depression is called “The Modern Society Disease” and most of people that surround us are in the early stages of depression or already depressed. I personally found this topic very interesting to write about because it is something very common in our society and I think that not everybody pays enough attention to it. In this research essay I am going to explain what is depression and the main symptoms of it. Also, I am going to present the main causes of it and which people are most affected by it. I will present what are the most affected countries and explain the role of “Modern Times” in depression. On the other hand we will discuss about how depression can be cured and how we can prevent it.

It is important that everyone should understand depression in its early stages and have the proper information about it so we can help each other. It is also important to be mentioned that is the main cause of suicide.

Depression regarding psychologist, is not only a state of being sad, it is a disease that conquers the ability to feel emotion, whether good or bad, whatsoever. Depression not only involves the mind, it also involves the body and thoughts. It causes loss of interest in everydays life, work, school or family. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function. Depression makes a person feel hopeless, unhappy, worthless like is no solution for any problem. Depressed people feel alone and they think that nobody understands them. It is very difficult, almost impossible for a depressed person to realise his mental illness. That’s why is important that everyone of us to learn and understand more about this mental illness, to help a depressed person or even to prevent it on its early stages. It is very important to help a depressed person because depression is one of main causes of suicide.

Sometimes most of us feel sad, lonely, or depressed. It's a normal reaction to loss, life's struggles, or injured self-esteem. But when these feelings become overwhelming, cause physical symptoms, and last for long periods of time, they can keep you from leading a normal, active life. That’s why is important to learn and understand the main symptoms of depression. Most highlighted symptoms include trouble concentrating, fatigue (feeling tired most of the time), feelings of guilt (in most of the action you take), pessimism, insomnia or sleeping too much (more than ten hours per day).

A depressed person feels also irritated most of the time with other people or with the environment that surrounds him. Loss of interest in things once pleasurable (different activities, including sex). This mental illness also causes overeating or appetite loss and digestive problems that don’t get better even with treatment. Most of the depressed people have a drastic weight lost that can be easily noticed by his friends or family. This weight loss can also cause anorexia that it is very bad for the physical health and can bring other damages to the body.

Some other symptoms include aches, body pains, headaches (that is the most common symptom of depression), persistent sadness, anxiety or empty feelings (thoughts of staying forever in the grey zone). One of the most important thing depressed people feel is suicidal thoughts or attempts. It important to be mentioned for this part, that these symptoms are general because they are influenced by the environment people are surrounded.

But what the main causes of this serious mental illness? First of all, abuse is one of the main causes of depression. This includes sexual or emotional abuse that can cause depression later on life (children are the most affected by abuse). Also, there are some medications that cause depression. After my research on this matter, I discovered that there are some drugs for high blood pressure curing drugs such as Beta-blockers or Reserpine that can increase your risk of depression. In the social point of view, certain conflicts may result to depression such conflicts with friends, family, husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend. Also, death or a loss of a loved one (mostly family members) that can naturally can increase the risk of depression.

From a scientific point of view, genetics are one of the main reasons of depression. A family history may increase the risk of depression in a person. But the exact way this happens it is not known. It is proved that even major good events such as starting a new job, graduating, marriage, pregnancy can lead to depression. This cause of major good events was quite new for me personally and quite impressive because it didn’t seem logical to me that good events can have negative consequences.

One of the causes of depression that was familiar to my knowledge for depression was substance abuse such drugs (Lariam or Chantix syntetic drugs used for malaria treatment or quitting smoking) or unprescripted drugs such Xanax or Morphine.

Most affected countries by this serious mental illness are the developed ones such as EU countries, USA, Australia, Japan, China and Russia. In my personal opinion based on the search I did for depression, one of the main factors that these countries have a high level of depressed people is economic problems. Economy is one of the main reasons that can lead to depression. Social problems that these countries have, are one the main reasons of depression. Social isolation from family or friends that it is not caused purposely by family or friends but by the victim itself. Social networks are becoming problematic related to depression in these developed countries. In USA, twenty seven percent of the population is suffering from depression. Also it is important to be mentioned that women are more likely to suffer from depression rather than men. And most affected age group is forty to fifty-nine.

Depression can be treated. Regular exercise can help treating exercising, running, jogging, yoga and meditation. Social support is one most effective ways to treat depression. Strong social networks reduce isolation, a key risk factor for depression. Keeping in regular contact with friends and family, or consider joining a class or group. Also, sleep it is very important. Scheduled sleeping can help reduce stress, avoid insomnia and body aches. Sleeping can be a major factor for treating depression. Eating well and nutrition balance can help healing. Eating a healthy diet can minimize mood swings and improve your mental health. Stress reduction is another step forward to treating depression. Too much stress can affect negatively in depression, contrary staying away to stressful vibes can help healing it. Most important are family and friends that can help you firstly and prevent the most negatively consequence of depression, suicide (affected by depression). There are several phone lines that can help a depressed person if he/she has suicidal thoughts. But I think that talking to a professional psychologist is the main solution for this matter.

In conclusion, as seen from the essay, depression is a serious mental illness that affects mind and body. Depression not only involves the mind, it also involves the body and thoughts. It causes loss of interest in everyday life, work, school or family. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function. Depression makes a person feel hopeless, unhappy, worthless like is no solution for any problem. It is important that all of us to understand depression that affects most of the people in our society. Learning symptoms of this mental illness can help every one of us because depression is treatable through exercising, healthy diet, social network and sleep.

References

1. David D. Burns M. D (1980) - Feeling Good, the new mood therapy
2. https://www. webmd. com/ -WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being.
3. Terrence Real (1997) - I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression