Depression
Depression is more than being sad or feeling grief after a loss. Depression is a medical disorder, just like diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease. Day after day, depression affects your thoughts, feelings, physical health and behaviours. A depressive episode must have a certain level of severity and a minimum duration of two weeks.
Who gets depression?
- At any given time, almost three million Canadians have serious depression
- Depression accounts for 30% of all disability recorded at three of Canada's best known companies.
- 10-15% of men and 15-25% of women
What causes depression?
- Family history and genetics
- Medical illnesses
- Certain medications
- Life events or environmental stresses
- Biological factors
- Psychological vulnerability
Signs and symptoms of depression include but are
not limited to:
- Loss of interest in things you used to enjoy
- Feeling sad, blue or down in the dumps
- Feelings of restlessness
- Feeling worthless
- Changes in appetite or weight loss or gain
- Lethargy
- Feeling anxious
- Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or sleeping too much
- Suicidal thoughts
Depression is not a weakness or character flaw. It is a medical illness.
Depression is treatable. Between 80-90% of all depressed people respond to treatment and nearly all depressed people who receive treatment see at least some relief from their symptoms.
Recommended reading:
- Thompson, Tracy. G.P., The Beast: A Reckoning with Depression . Putnam's Sons, 1995
- Mays, John Bentley, In the Jaws of the Black Dogs . Penguin Books, 1995
- Copeland M.S., Mary Ellen, Living Without Depression and Manic Depression . New Harbinger Publications Inc., 1994
- Rosen, Laura E. PhD. And Amador, Xavier F. PhD, When Someone you Love is Depressed: How to Help Your Loved One Without Losing Yourself . Simon & Schuster, 1997
- Danquah, Meri Nana-Ama, Willow Weep for Me -A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression, W.W. Norton & Co., 1998
Web Sites:
Depression is a Treatable Illness:National Institute of Mental Health http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-a-treatable-illness-fact-sheet/index.shtml
Online Depression Screening
Sponsored by the National Mental Health Association
http://www.depression-screening.org/screeningtest/screeningtest.htm