Dealing with Depression: Hold on to Hope

Have you ever had a bad day? Do you get angry quickly? Are you sometimes very happy and other times very sad? How do you know when your highs and lows are the results of a normal crazy day or something more serious? According to The National Institute of Mental Health, “Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the U.S. Current research suggests that depression is caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors.” What is depression? Well, Depression is a mental disorder that affects a lot of young adults according to Higuera, Valencia from the Health line website. She describes the definition of depression, its symptoms, and how to deal with depression. Higuera also talks about gender differences. Males might experience some different symptoms than women. Some of these symptoms are anger, aggressiveness, loss of interest, and headaches. Women might experience some of these same symptoms but can also experience sadness, difficulty sleeping, and decreased energy. Higuera also talked about how children can experience depression. Some of the children’s symptoms are mood swings, suicide, change in grades, and unexplained weight gain or loss. How many people battle depression globally? Well according to the World health organization, 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Depression is more of a burden than most people think. It is the number 1 leading cause of disability worldwide. Personally, I know people who have gone through it and how much damage it has done to their lives. Did you know that there are different types of depression? According to WebMD, some of these types are Persistent Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and Psychotic Depression. Persistent Depressive Disorder is when you have Depression for 2 years or longer. This term is also used to describe conditions at once. That other condition is called Dysthymia, which is basically chronic depression. Bipolar depression is when a person’s depression is really bad sometimes or really good sometimes. Seasonal depression is typically when someone feels bad for a season, usually winter. This happens because you get less sunlight and it typically goes away during the summer or winter. Last but not least, psychotic depression. This is when someone would see hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. What treatment can you use for depression? In the article by Medical News Today, Timothy Legg describes many ways to tackle depression or treatment. Some of these ways are Psychotherapy, Brain stimulation therapies, Food and Diet, Supplements, and Natural Remedies. Psychotherapy is talking therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. Food and diet can make your mood better and positive. Supplements have been proven to help patients with depression time and time again. Brain stimulation therapies are an option to battle depression. One of their therapies is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, which sends magnetic pulses to the brain. Natural remedies are more used for mild depression. This is basically herbs. Psychotherapy - Talking Therapy The last source that I have talked about is depression and everything about it. It has almost everything my other sources have but more. Mayo Clinic talks about what depression is, the symptoms, every age group that battles depression, and treatment. My research has impacted my understanding of depression a lot. When you deal with depression, you can't lose hope. When you give in to whatever you are feeling, sadness, emotional problems, etc, you lose the battle of your mind. I have seen it first hand. I had many friends fight the battle in their minds, struggling because of a trauma. I know some of my friends that are still going through it and it sucks. I also know that depression isn’t something that you want to battle alone. Sometimes, it can be impossible to battle it alone. One thing that I didn’t know when doing this originally was how big depression is. According to the World Health Organization, it affects 264 million people globally. It is the most common mental illness. I'm wondering how people battle depression in America versus someone in a different country. I question how people see depression today versus 1000 years ago. I hope to learn what is how as a society can we best help people with depression. The link to my annotated bibliography is here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h2OGasx_3KY795iZ6V9Gl3RX3WqkhE0fAIRyjrAFEt0/edit. Link to Google doc Depression_Hold on to Hope https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Ig7gpV8LzK_Q08OpKf3DaT2aV4svxOilRydsFGi_GA/edit