Depression and its effects

Depression is life changing. There is no other way around it. It is a debilitating condition that affects you, your family, your job, and your friends. But for some reason or another, most people that have depression do not seek treatment, feeling instead that they are not worth the trouble, or not wanting the to admit that there is something wrong, even when most people with depression find at least some relief with very little effort.

There are several things to watch for if you believe that you, or someone that you know, has depression. Although the symptoms vary from person to person, a lot of people suffering from depression often report a feeling of hopelessness, of walking through life without a purpose. Even things that used to bring them joy, such as family or friends, they’ve lost interest in. A lot of people with depression will suffer from sleep disturbances such as insomnia, or waking up frequently in the night.

Depression also causes physical pain as well. You may experience muscle pain or weakness when suffering from an episode and fatigue is common. Some people with depression report frequent headaches or days in which they feel as if they have the flu. It can become increasingly worse with time because each day of missed work or time away from your family can send a lot of people into a spiral of thought of failure and worthlessness causing them to become a recluse, and only worsening their feelings of loneliness.

There can still be good days, and that is why a lot of people mistake clinical depression with ‘the blues’, but if those feelings of despair and hopelessness last more than a week at a time, than it may be time to seek treatment. Treatments vary from patient to patient as well as responses. Some times it just helps to have an outside party to speak to, such as a therapist or psychiatrist, many of which your family practice physician should be able to point you towards. If ‘talk therapy’ doesn’t help, it may be time to consider medication, since depression is not just a state of mind.

You will not just ‘get over it’, its is a chemical imbalance in the brain, something that you can not control or fix, that causes the feelings of despair and disturbances in your sleep. Medications can help to balance out the chemical reactions, helping you to see things clearly and be able to focus on fixing the problems that may have led to the depressed state. There are literally hundreds of different types of medications out there for depression, and for what is known as bi-polar disease, a different form of depression that causes manic episodes, so talking to your doctor about options is a must.

Make take several attempts to find a medication, or combination of medications to fix the imbalance. The important thing is to follow the directions very precisely since altering the way you take most of the medications can lead to seizures or other potentially life threatening conditions. Talk to your doctor if you are having thoughts of suicide, since they may just be a reaction to the medications.