Tuesday, July 3, 2012

How to Handle Depression

By Lucretia Gergely


You will find a tendency to use the word depression to describe periods or instances of sadness that all of us experience every now and then. And for many people, during these periods it is not always easy to discern where normal sorrow ends and clinical depression begins. Yet, anyone who has ever experienced an episode of major depression knows - at the very least after the depression has lifted - that what they feel is a bit more than just ongoing or persistent sadness.

Clinical depression is an illness characterized by a cluster of feelings, thoughts and behaviors which can be remarkably distinct coming from a person's normal variety of feelings and functioning. Caused by a complex interaction of biologic, psychological and social factors, a major depressive disorder can produce a person extremely sensitive to life circumstances, the least of which can throw him/her into total lack of hope.

During a major depression, someone can become surrounded by feelings of sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, and emptiness, and the feelings can distort every thought and experience, making life seem hopeless and unworthy. Feelings of being deeply and continually deprived, unworthy, insignificant, and guilt-ridden develop feelings of sadness. Simultaneously, a person may feel chronically irritable, often exploding into frustration or anger.

While a serious depression might be triggered by some life event or circumstance, an individual's mood reaction may seem greatly exaggerated. However, depression has less to do with life's events than with an individual's existing vulnerability towards the condition.

In some instances, someone can experience a major depression like a single episode, however in most cases, clinical depression tends to recur periodically, reactively or cyclically. A major depressive episode may last up to 2 or more years.

When someone experiences milder depressive episodes, this is known as dysthymia. For someone suffering from dysthymia, certain life circumstances, for example loss of a job, divorce, or relocating to a different environment, may provoke an extremely deeper depression.

Persons, there is a seasonal aspect of their depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This is a form of reactive depression which is more prevalent in northern parts of the country where climatic extreme changes are greater. SAD usually affects folks the fall or winter and is characterized by fatigue, carbohydrate cravings, overeating, lack of energy or motivation to perform activities normally enjoyed, and oversleeping. While the exact etiology or cause of SAD is not certain, you'll be able that it may be linked to the way in which the light responsive pineal gland in the brain functions.




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