What Depression Is – 6 Fascinating Facts About What Depression Is

Understanding what depression is may encourage you to seek the help that you need, because fully comprehending what depression is will remove the stigma of this serious disease. Everyone has moments of sadness. These emotions may last a day or two, but they resolve and your life returns to normal. People with depression experience these symptoms on an entirely different level.

What Depression Is

The debilitating effects of this mood disorder best illustrate what depression is for those with the condition. Depression adversely affects every aspect of your life. Depressed people have extreme difficulty managing routine activities, such as eating, sleeping and working. Your favorite pastimes lose their appeal. Some people have one episode over their lifetime, but others have several occurrences. Depression causes fatigue, insomnia, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. It is a chronic disorder like hypertension or arthritis and requires proper treatment.

What Depression Is Not

It is easier to understand the disorder by exploring what depression is not. It is not sadness or an unhappy feeling. Sadness is superficial, but depression penetrates your psyche and undermines your self-worth. People who are sad continue to work, parent and enjoy their favorite activities. A depressed person may be unable to get out bed or have a normal conversation. It is dangerous to misinterpret the differences between these two mental states, because it can delay treatment and lead to estrangement, guilt and death.

What Depression Is More Incapacitating

What depression is more incapacitating depends more upon the severity of the symptoms than the actual clinical diagnosis. There are several disorders with a component of depression, but the ability of depression to disrupt your brain chemistry is the same. The number of symptoms you experience and the level of incapacitation are highly variable. One person may have stomachaches or migraine while another has difficulty recalling information or making decisions. Any diagnosis of depression is serious. Each year, approximately 60% of Americans who commit suicide were depressed or had some other mood disorder.

What Depression Is Bipolar

What depression is bipolar is a frequent question because of the considerable impact of this disorder on families and society. This occurs because bipolar disorder is difficult to diagnose and often inadequately treated. It is characterized by alternating periods of depression and euphoria. The depressive element has greater clinical consequences, because this is when the individual is more likely to commit suicide.

What Depression Is Hereditary

What depression is hereditary has puzzled people who notice that the disorder can affect several family members. Studies of identical twins indicate that there are genetic factors. There is a 67% overlap of depression in identical twins raised in different homes. This indicates a strong genetic role, but the numbers should be closer to 100% if genetics were the only factor.

What Depression Is Genetic

What depression is genetic has also been studied in fraternal twins. Unlike identical twins, these siblings don’t share the identical genetic code. The overlap of depression in these twins is 19%. This rate is higher than the general public and indicates a possible genetic component.

Discovering what depression is will help you understand how to help yourself and others.

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