As modern society becomes increasingly enlightened with psychological experiences, one of the most prominent words that are on the lips is the word, ‘depression’. Unfortunately, it is regularly misused to describe our sadness, unhappiness or when sad or bad things happen in our lives.
- What is depression?
Depression is one of the most difficult and debilitating conditions that one can experience in life. Depression can appear in different forms; major depressive disorder, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, psychotic depression, melancholia, seasonal affective disorder and postnatal depression. Depression is the most highly prevalent mental conditions in our society.
- What are the signs and symptoms?
Depression is a persistent mood disorder that lasts a long time, draining the sufferer of pleasure, interest, motivation, hope, and detrimentally affecting sleep (insomnia or hypersomnia). It dominates the sufferer with feeling of worthlessness, guilt and thoughts of death.
- What can be done about it?
There is good evidence that managing depression in a multifaceted approach works well. GPs can medically diagnose and prescribe medications to ensure that the lowest point of depressive cycle does not become unbearable or self-harming. And there are strong evidence that psychological therapy work well with most of depressive disorders.