All forms of depression are basically categorized as medical related. Depression is comprised of many stages of illness. Major depression is the worst, followed by manic depression or bi-polar disorder, with the least serious being minor or mild depression. Depression is a disease. Although it is a mental illness it is no different than heart disease or lung disease. It strikes a critical organ, the brain. You aren’t somehow less just because you have depression. You aren’t crazy if you have it. Just like other illnesses it can be treated. Depression however is a very serious thing and requires proper medical depression treatment, not pushed to a side as being all in the person’s mind.
Medical depression starts out as a relatively unseen illness. Everyone becomes a little sad and depressed once in a while. Things go wrong in our lives that leave us down and out and in the dumps. This alone does not constitute depression. Depression is not a situation where you are depressed temporarily. Depression is an illness that will stay with you on a consistent basis. If the depressed mood seems to linger week after week and begins to affect your daily life than that is a sure sign of depression. If your mood changes with the wind and you can be up one minute and down the next than you are certainly showing signs of depression. If you are suffering from consistent insomnia or bad eating habits, these are also sure tell signs.
Medical depression has complex causes. It leaves open many possibilities and factors that must be taken into consideration. Stress is a major factor in depression. We experience stress each day. Stress is part of personal interaction. Stress comes from balancing the books. Raising children is stressful and so can result in medical depression. Emotional suffering can bring on medical depression from stress. It becomes even more complex when you consider biological and environmental factors, as well as DNA.
The positive result is that there are cures for medical depression. Over 17 million Americans each and every year are affected in some way by medical depression. The negative result is that only a third will ever seek medical assistance. It is hard to get a cure if you don’t get diagnosed. There are both natural and prescribed types of depression medication on the market today. Medical professionals can also assist the cure by offering ‘talk therapy’. This is a means of talking out the problem with you. There are also many different support groups that allow you to associate with those who suffer and feel the same as you do. You do not have to get through medical depression alone. Such a disease isn’t self healing. Consult a doctor if you or someone you know shows signs of medical depression.
