Depression

Depression

Depression is a disease lacking one specific cause, rather a combination of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors contribute to depression and depressive disorders. About 16% of the U.S. population will experience depression at some point in their life. Major depression is 1.5-3 times more common in people who have parents, siblings, or children who have had depression. (Marshall Cavendish)

Symptoms


 * Disturbances in mood (Marshall Cavendish)
 * Disruptions in thinking (Marshall Cavendish)
 * Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide (Marshall Cavendish)
 * Disturbances in the body's regulatory system (Marshall Cavendish)
 * Over-eating, or appetite loss ( USA.gov
 * Loss of interest in activities once pleasurable ( USA.gov)
 * Feeling of hopelessness and/of pessimism ( USA.gov)

Risk Factors


 * Life stressors (Marshall Cavendish)
 * Friends, school, money, relationships
 * History of abuse (Marshall Cavendish)

Treatments Other Information Sources: > . >  >> >> >
 * Medication (Anti-depressants)
 * Prozac
 * Zoloft
 * Paxil
 * Luvox
 * Counseling or talk therapy
 * A place to talk about feelings and thoughts and find out healthy ways to deal with them.
 * Psychotherapy
 * Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
 * Support groups
 * Electroconvulsive therapy
 * Controlled electrical currents are passed through the patients triggering a brief seizure.
 * Causes changes in brain chemistry that can immediately reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses.
 * Controversy over earlier methods that were applied without anesthesia, sometimes causing injury to the patients.
 * Men often experience depression differently than women. Men are more likely to acknowledge feeling fatigue, irritability, and loss of interest in once pleasurable activities, whereas women are more likely to admit to feelings of sadness, worthlessness, or excessive guilt. ( USA.gov)
 * Research has shown that childhood depression often persists, recurs, and continues into adulthood, especially if left untreated. ( USA.gov)
 * A child with depression may pretend to be sick, refuse to go to school, cling to a parent, or worry that a parent may die. ( USA.gov)
 * Older children may sulk, get in trouble at school, be negative and irritable, and feel misunderstood. ( USA.gov)
 * Marshall Cavendish. //Diseases and Disorders//. Ed. Wendy Horobin. New York: Paul Bernabeo, 2008. Print.
 * CBI. "Major Depression." PubMed Health. A.D.A.M, 2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.
 * USA.gov. "Depression." //NIMH.// USA.gov, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2011.
 * http://www.teen-drug-help.com/ (picture 1)
 * http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/depression/depressionTX.htm (picture 2)