DEPRESSION:THE UNSEEN KILLER

Hello Steemians! This will be the first post to come your way after my introductory post, I welcome you all to my blog and I'm sure you'll always have a nice time here.

I'll be sharing with you what I have noodled over for sometime now, and it's borne out of life experiences and occuring events.

A lot of people seem to be unhappy and sad while struggling with life challenges, sometimes this culminates to depression and its imperative to know that depression remains a menace or a threat to the state of mental health and as such should not be considered as trivial.

Source

If you don't get close to people, you'll hardly know what they are going through and if you haven't experienced, you may never get to understand their agony.

Many people hide behind a smile but are being tortured,wounded and hurting inside. This has given rise to a lot of mental disorder (psychosis), suicidal activities even death in many cases.
It is of utmost concern to deal with this killer called depression as it can occur in men, women, teenagers and adults. Melancholics are also known to be prone to depression.

What is Depression?

Depression is a serious medical or mental illness that negatively affect how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. This can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person's ability to function at work and at home.

Sadness isn't thesame as depression, it's just normal for one to feel down once in a while for a few days.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is the most common illness worldwide and the leading cause of disability. They estimated that 350million people are affected by depression globally. Source

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

• Insomnia or hypersomnia
• Apathy
• Sadness
• Feeling of worthlessness
• Pain
• Alcohol abuse
• Drug abuse
• Suicidal tendencies
• Loss of appetite and weight
• Worsened ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions.
• Detaching from friends
• Loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed

Causes of Depression

Life events inclding:

• Bereavement
• Divorce
• Work issues
• Relationship with friends and family
• Financial problems
• Medical concerns
• Acute stress
• Unemployment

Some risk factors contribute to depression which include:

• Mood disorders and suicide run in the family (genetics)
• Trauma or an abuse at an early age, which can cause long time changes in how the brain deals with fear and stress
• Hormonal changes such as from pregnancy or thyroid problem.

Types of Depression

1. Major depression - occurs when symptoms interferes with your daily functions including your work, sleep, and eating habits for at least two weeks straight.
2. Dysthymia or persistent depressive disorder - experience less severe mood symptoms that last continuously for at least two years. During the time, there may also be periods when the person experiences major depression.
3. Postpartum depression - in which mothers symptoms of major depression after child birth (mood impairment is much sronger and last longer)
4. Manic depression or bipolar disorder - this has mood episodes that range from extremes of high energy with an "up" mood to low "depressive" periods.
5. Psychotic depression - this is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia (wrongly believing that others are trying to harm you)
6. Situational depression - occurs when you are having trouble managing a stressful event in your life, such as death in your family, a divorce, or losing your job.

Treatment of Depression

• Medication - antideprssants can be prescribed to modify one's brain chemistry.
• Psychotherapy or talk therapy - helps a person to recognize distorted thinking and then change behaviours and thinking.
• Self-help and coping such as regular exercise, getting enough quality sleep, eating a healthy diet.
• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - involves a brief electrical stimulation of the brain while patient is under anesthesia.

Conclusion

Depression is not an illusion yet seem to have less attention given to it. People who suffer depression should receive immediate and proper medical care and shouldn't be left untreated and undiagnosed, if ignored can degenerate to worse cases or death.
Most depressed people don't speak out, rather they choose to keep it to themselves by being silent. So let's make it an obligation to show love and care to people around us inorder to mitigate depression.

Reference: 1 2

Thank you for your time!

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