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Depression

Click to visit an external site: Depression Is Real: www.depressionisreal.org Depression is a serious illness that affects your body, your mood and your thoughts. It affects the way you live, the way you feel about yourself and the way you feel about other people, your life, your environment. Depression is not a passing illness that will easily run its course and disappear. It is a disease that needs treatment. Without treatment, depression can affect a person for weeks, months or years.
Depression Symptoms

  • Feelings of sadness or irritability
  • Loss of interest in sex and activities once enjoyed
  • Changes in weight or appetite
  • Changes in sleeping patterns
  • Feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
  • Inability to concentrate, remember things or make decisions
  • Fatigue or loss of energy
  • Restlessness or decreased activity noticed by others
  • Thoughts of suicide or death

Treating Depression

The ability to treat depression depends on accurate diagnosis. Treatment may include a physical examination as well as a medical and personal history to rule out other illnesses, identify a possible reaction to medication and discover personal problems that may have triggered depression.

Treatment generally includes a combination of medicine and therapy, and varies based on the severity and duration of the illness. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is another method of treatment for depression.

Statistics
  • 1 in 4 women are likely to experience clinical (severe) depression.
  • Annually, 19 million Americans—1 in 10 adults—experience depression.
  • Women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men.
  • People between the ages of 24-44 are most likely to develop depression, but it also can affect children and the elderly.
  • Nearly 66 percent of those experiencing depression do not get the treatment they need.
  • Untreated depression is the number one cause of suicide.
  • Treatment of depression can alleviate the symptoms in over 80 percent of the cases.