Depression - Symptoms and Treatment

Being sad once in a while is just a part of life. When a loved-one leaves for abroad, we feel a tinge of loneliness, despite the fact that we can easily communicate with them. This is also true when the team that we are rooting for was not able to make it in the finals. The sadness is there but it does not linger. Today, I will be discussing about the intense and lingering kind of sadness or depression, its symptoms, and treatment.

Depression makes it difficult for a person to function normally and enjoy life as they did before. Their friends and hobbies have ceased to interest them. Often times, they feel really exhausted and the mere idea of getting through the day can be very overwhelming. This kind of situation can make things seem hopeless. It is like being inside a tunnel without the "light at the end" in sight.

Often times, people make use of the term depressed to characterize a feeling of depression or disappointment. However, it is a different case for those who have clinical depression. The sadness is much more intense and the feeling lingers for a long period. Most of the time, the feeling of depression is characterized by a feeling of an imminent doom. For other depressed patients, they don't feel loneliness. Instead, there is strong sensation of emptiness, lifeless and being apathetic.

Basically, depression is very much different from the loneliness that surfaces in your day-to-day life. It is a far cry from the sadness that gets in between your ability to eat, work, study sleep and fun. Just imagine being completely conquered by the feeling of hopelessness, helplessness and losing your self-worth.

For you to have an idea about clinical depression or if you have intentions of checking if you are currently experiencing one, check these depression symptoms:
· You find it difficult to sleep or you have sleeping to much than normal
· You find it hard to focus or concentrate with whatever you are doing (e.g.: work or academics)
· Your previous daily tasks seem to become difficult
· There is a lingering feeling of hopelessness and helplessness
· Your mind is always occupied with negative thoughts that you can't seem to sweep off your system
· You have greatly lose your appetite or you can't stop yourself from eating
· You are easily annoyed, irritated or short-tempered than usual
· You have thoughts that life no longer worth living (In this case, you have to seek for help immediately).

Unlike with other illnesses, depression is highly complicated. It is not merely an imbalance in the chemical make-up of the brain, which a medication can bring a solution to. According to experts, depression is caused by the combination of biological, psychological and social aspects of the sufferer. There were even studies that suggest the vulnerability of a person to depression can be traced in their genetic make-up. Given these factors, the solution also concerns your lifestyle, relationships and coping capacities.

The mere fact that you are informed about depression can be of great help. This will allow you to help yourself as well as the people around you. It is in uncovering the real cause of your depression that enables you to overcome the problem. Say, you are depressed due to losing your job, the treatment for this would be finding yourself a more fulfilling career. Thus, you don't have to take anti-depressants right away.

Another coping strategy that you could help you is finding new friends. You may find new buddies at work or through a similar hobby. Sometimes, merely changing the situation can do wonders to your depression.