Depression

Depression is a state that affects millions of people it can start off as mild and become severe. People aren't born depressed it's something that happens to us during our lifetime.

Depression comes in various forms from mild to moderate to severe. It's the persistent and severe depression that can be so very debilitating.

Depression can be a reactive depression caused by an event or a catalogue of events I.e. life changing events such as bereavements, divorce, relationship breakdown, job loss, or loss of health, long term abuse, physical or mental.

Other causes of reactive depression could be caused by fear or ignorance. I.e. sexuality issues, morality issues, Debt issues, Personal issues. These types of issues often induce fear of non acceptance or fear of stigma or rejection. Depression can be brought on by a host of other life events.

Some symptoms of depression are loss of self confidence, lack of interest or pleasure in activities, poor appetite or over eating, significant weight loss or weight gain, insomnia or hyper insomnia, lack of ability to think or concentrate, low energy or fatigue, low self esteem, feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness, recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

Other indicators of depression can be seen in a person's demeanour and in their body posture an exhausted look in the facial muscles a stooping posture. Walking and talking more slowly, anguish when answering questions or seeking help, going over the same subject matter over and over again and sometimes taking several minutes to answer a yes or no to a relatively simple issue.

The reality of what ever causes the depression and for some depressive states there is no known cause at all; however the key point with depression is to get help.

When we are depressed we tend to see everything in a negative light, we can't see a way forward. We feel defeated and beaten. It's at this point we have a tendency to give up trying and sink into a depressive state.

We owe it to ourselves to seek help and help is available.

Always go and see a doctor. Doctors have a great deal of experience with dealing with depression. Medication is often very helpful in combating depression. Anti depressants are not addictive and help to change the chemicals in the brain which makes us feel depressed.

A depressive state can be altered for the better given the right interactions and circumstances.
Talking therapies, counselling and "cognitive behaviour therapy" can be extremely helpful in treating depression so don't be afraid to seek help.

- James Harris, 2009