12 Facts to Know About Depression: Symptoms and Warning Signs

Facts to Know About Depression

Depression has to do with a mood disorder associated with feelings of that affect one’s usual disposition, behaviour, approach and reaction. Such feelings could be sadness, irritability, anger or others. Depression is an important issue to discuss considering how it impacts on people’s productivity, liveliness, social life, mental health and the likes. A depressed person is a shadow of his or her real self, sometimes it is so real the victim knows he/she is but may feel so helpless and hopeless about changing the situation. If it is not properly understood and treated, it can get worse. It becomes significantly serious when the depression period begins to run beyond two weeks or a month.

Symptoms of Depression

Symptoms of depression can vary.

What are the signs to look out for in order to easily fish out depression wherever it is hiding?

Mood can be affected, when there is anger, or when the person becomes unusually restless. Sadness and irritability could also be noticed.

Feeling of emptiness, anxiety and helplessness are also symptoms.

Loss of interest in activities a person ordinarily enjoys. When you just discover you are losing touch with yourself and the world around you.

There could be concentration problem, tiredness, trouble with memory, weight change and sleep pattern can be distorted.

Symptoms can also involve headache, pains and trouble with digestion.

1. It is More than Being Sad

As related as depression is to being sad and moody, it is beyond that. If a person is sad for a few minutes, hours or days depending on the situation at hand, the person may not be considered as being depressed as in the sense of a disorder or disease. But when the sadness begins to be prolonged into more than two weeks or more persistently, then it is important to check the situation on time. It is okay to be sad a while when something bad happens, but getting too long in that state is a significant risk.

2. It is Not Easily Understood by Others

Depression is a personal state of mind and being where only the victim or person affected can truly understand what he/she is going through. You might find people misunderstanding you, especially if they don’t take time to observe and see the real reason behind the behavioural or mood change. This could be hard on the person suffering from depression as you find that people just don’t get what you are going through. It could also be difficult for you to explain to others.

3. It Can Happen to Anyone

Depression can happen to people of any race, tribe, colour, walk of life, religion, social status or position. Be you rich or poor, depression is no respecter of faces. Anyone could be a victim especially when you don’t know as much as you need to know about it. That is the more reason everyone needs to understand depression and know how to cope and handle it when it surfaces.

4. It is Different from Laziness or Weakness

A depressed person may not feel motivated to go to work, carry out some tasks or get up from bed, he/she might lose touch with the energetic part of himself/herself for the period of depression, but that doesn’t mean that the person is lazy. What to be done at such times, is to ask them the right questions that will lead you to the heart of the matter, so that you can be able to help the victim.

5. It May Increase Risk of Other Diseases

Depression can be a significant risk factor in that it can increase the risk of certain heath conditions such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and others. This makes it a very serious threat to health. It should not be worked on early enough and should not be allowed to become so strong and pronounced in the body to the extent of having significant negative impact in helping other sicknesses.

6. It is More Common in Women

Depression is reportedly more common in the female folks than male folks. This does not imply that men do not experience depression at all, it only means that the women are more likely to go through it. Puberty stage could in some induce depression. For some women they may experience it during pregnancy while some go through premenstrual depression and some others experience depression after delivery. Depression experienced after giving birth is referred to as postnatal depression. These are some special reasons why depression might be more common among women than men. But when it comes to depression caused by other factors either in the work place, at home, personal life, it can affect anyone, male or female.

7. It Can Be Influenced by Parents

In the instance that there is a history of people who suffered from depression in a person’s family line, the individual has more probability of experiencing depression. It can therefore be a proactive measure, commendable and laudable if you find out that there’s history of depression in your lineage and you quickly watch against it.

8. Exercise Can Help Improve Depression

Involving in exercise can help to maintain some balance in your health and manage depression. When you involve in exercise, it serves as a means of getting your mind off things that might have kept disturbing your mind. Also exercise can help release endorphin in your system and make you feel good. Finding out the right type of exercise which can be really effective can go some length in managing or improving depression.

9. There May Be No Special Reason for Depression

Is it possible that you are unable lay your hands on what exactly is accountable for your depression? Maybe there is no special reason for it, just imbalance in some chemicals within your brain have impacted on your mood and have induced a kind of depression. Knowing this will help you to know that it may not be every time something bad must have happened before depression shows up.

Some of the neurotransmitters that can affect your mood include dopamine, serotonin.

10. Depression Can Lead to Suicide

If instances arise where depression is not treated or attended to, then it can lead to suicide. The best thing to do when you are experiencing depression is to open up and seek help. Tell people who can be of help. Don’t keep it to yourself, don’t stay alone too long, don’t ruminate or worry on matters for too long all by yourself. Try as much as possible to surround yourself with well-meaning and helpful people who at least know your state and can be able to monitor you.

11. It Can Be Treated

Depression can be treated and improved on. It is important to find a professional who can be of help in getting you out of the depression mire. Yes, it is good to tell close people around you, but more importantly is meeting a professional for help. There are therapies and medications that can be used to combat depression.

It is important to know what you are going through so you can take appropriate steps to salvage the situation, and in the instance that you are not directly a victim, you still need to know about depression so as to relate with victims better and offer useful help to them.