Major depression is a serious mental disorder that affects the quality of life impairing the way you feel and think and behave. There will be loss of interest and a feeling of sadness persistently which will eventually cause various physical as well as emotional problems. You may have trouble carrying out routine activities and many times you may feel that life is worthless. Depression is not an acute problem but is type of chronic illness that requires treatment for many more years.
Even the worst type of depression can be overcome by effective treatments like medications and psychological counseling. For some people depression can develop only for certain period and for others it can be life-long.
Major Depression Symptoms
Feeling “low” or sad most of the time is the main feature of major depression. Some of the common signs of depression are given below:-
- Feeling worthless every day or feeling guilt for no apparent reason
- Feeling unhappy or sad
- Lack of concentration and impairment in taking decision
- Loss of energy and extreme tiredness daily
- Loss of interest in normal activities that the person enjoyed before
- Insomnia (difficulty in sleeping) or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping patterns)
- Feeling restless or slowed down
- Having repeated thoughts of suicide and death
- Marked weight gain or weight loss within short span of time
- Reduced sex drive
- Getting irritated easily and engaging in frequent angry outbursts
- Crying frequently for no reason
Symptoms may vary from one person to another. Most of them often feel miserable and sad without knowing the reason. Depression will not affect each person in the same way since it differs widely with age, cultural background and gender. In children symptoms of major depression will be avoiding social interaction and getting anger/frustrated very often.
Changes in sleeping pattern, cognitive thinking and difficulty in concentrating are some of the other symptoms. It will cause various behavior problems like aggression, attention deficit disorder and anxiety. In the result they may not be able to complete their schoolwork.
In Adults and Old People
Most of the time, adults and older people feel that their life is worthless. It can cause loss of appetite, loss of interest in pleasurable activities and can become the root cause for much physical illness. Many people feel reluctant to seek help and hence the disorder goes undiagnosed. They feel helpless and bored in life.
They feel isolated having no friends and never engage in social activities. They do not care for their hygiene and looks. Older men are at the highest risk of committing suicide due to major depression. As many people believe depression symptoms may not get better over time.
Major Depression Causes
Exact cause of major depression is not known. It is believed to run in families and can be inherited through genes. Various factors like hereditary, environmental and medical factors are involved I causing depression. It is believed that a person with depression will have tremendous physical changes in his brain. What exactly causes these changes is not known. Neurotransmitters in the brain are responsible for mood behavior and causes major role in depression.