Symptoms and Causes of Depression

Depression, in terms of psychiatry, can be referred as state of low mood in which one can develop feeling of intense dislike to any activity. It brings problem not only for an individual who is affected but also for his family. A depressed person usually likes to spend most of his time behind the doors all alone, avoids meeting with his family members and friends, and thinks about the event that might be the major factor for the current lapses of the depression. Although it can strike up at any stage of the life but the studies suggest that the chances of developing depression are much higher at the younger age as compared to old age. It can be a simple episode in which they are upset because of a break up. Or, it can come in a constant, heavy depression that can and does destroy lives.

The symptoms for the depression might include the lack of concentration, feeling of being worthless, thinking most of the time about death, change in dietary habits as well as trouble sleeping. These symptoms can appear in a multitude of combinations, but the key is that they will show up and last for more than two weeks at a time. In chronic depression cases that last for months, some changes in the physical attributes have also been observed like acne development, loss of weight, darkening of skin due to melinocytes activation, weakness, loss of sexual feelings, pain in the muscles, hands trembling and in some cases the phenomena of polypepsia and polyuria have also been observed.

There are three major factors that might contribute to the development of the depression namely environmental, genetical and biological. A combination of these three factors can result in clinical depression, a severe depression disorder that can completely ruin a person's life. The environmental factor mainly includes the failure in love, business failure, death of any loved one, divorce, poverty, homelessness, joblessness etc. The people that are suffering from depression due to environmental factors may exhibit depression for a determined time. A change in the brain chemistry i.e. changes in important hormones are thought to be the biological factor that causes depression. Genetic factor constitutes the family history of depression. If any one of the parents has a depression history, chances are there that the child will also suffer from depression at some time in his life. The other factors that might contribute towards developing the depression might include the lack of sleep, an unhealthy diet, use of alcohol and heroin, side effects of certain medicine, any injury or due to a long term disease.

Medicines that are advised for depression are known as antidepressants. Almost all of them are prescription drugs. Norpinephrine and serotonin are the chemicals in the brain that get increased by the use of antidepressants. But it is important at the same time to consider that depression will be cured with the new attitude one will adopt in one's life henceforth, because your family needs you and because you need a meaningful purpose in your life.