Depression

Depression is often also referred to as clinical depression, major depressive disorder, unipolar depression, or dysthymic disorder. All of these are considered a serious medical illness that surrounds the brain. It is an illness that involves a lot more than just feeling “blue” or “down in the dumps” for several days. There are approximately 20 million individuals in the U.S. suffering from depression.

It’s important to know that and understand why the feelings of depression do not simply disappear over time. If you are one of the millions that suffer from this medical illness, those feelings will persist and begin to interfere with your day-to-day life.

Some of the main symptoms of depression include the following:

• Loss of interest/pleasure in usually enjoyable activities
• Difficulty sleeping (insomnia or oversleeping)
• Sadness
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Energy loss
• Change in weight
• Thoughts of suicide or death

It’s common for depression to run in families. The illness will typically start showing symptoms between 15 and 30 years of age. Depression is far more common in women than men. It is also very common for women may also suffer from postpartum depression after giving birth. Some people will develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during the winter months. Regardless of which form it presents itself, depression is one side of the bipolar disorder spectrum.

The good news of all of this is that depression can be treated effectively with talk therapy, antidepressants and other available treatments. Ideally, the best way to treat depression is with a combination of treatments that are determined best for your individual situation by you and your physician.

For more information, consider reaching out to a professional that you can talk to about how you are feeling and what may help you.

At Shadow Mountain Recovery, we want to help you. Give us a call today at 800-203-8249 so we can talk about what’s going on in your life and help you decide what the best course of treatment is in your individual situation.