Depression
Trigger Warning!
Like the title says, this post is about depression and mental illness. It includes those topics, along with suicide, abuse and grief. Do not read it if you're not comfortable doing so! However, the goal of this post is to help and aware people.
As you can read in the definition above, depression is a mental illness that can affect your capacity to go through a way and can change the way you see life. Note that it doesn't mean that you're crazy, depression is totally normal. It is a mental state that brings a lot of exhaustion and makes you reconsider a lot of things about yourself and about life.
It's deeper than just being sad all the time, at times you could feel down for no particular reasons. Every person is different, and some could even feel anger, instead of sadness. It is considered as a mood disorder, so it can be solved with hormones, which I'll mention later on.
The causes of depression can be various. They range from biological to circumstantial, and they're both just as important. Sometimes, it's just in your genetic and not caused by an event. Most of the time, however, it develops because of stressful situations or traumatic ones. It can be because of grief, a form of abuse, but it can also be because of another mental disorder, such as the bipolar disorder and anxiety.
As you can see, depression can be caused by a lot of things, which means it could happen to anybody. Don't ever feel bad because you have depression, it's okay not to be okay and there is help!
Symptoms
Mood related
When you start to feel blue, sad, angry, irritable, anxious, or feel like you can never rest, this could be a sign that you have depression. Again, it doesn't mean you have it, and it's also possible that you don't have this kind of symptom.
Well-being
This type of symptom is where you might start feeling empty, feel no emotions at all. You could also start feeling lonely most of the times or hopeless. This affects the way you see yourself or things around you.
Behavior
This type of symptom is when you lose interest in things you would usually like, when you feel constantly tired and start having suicidal thoughts. Some people also start to drink heavily or abuse of illegal substances and could start doing high risk activities. That's the symptom that leads a person to stop taking care of themselves and stop caring about what happens to them.
Cognitive abilities
Some people could lose part of their cognitive abilities, such as being able to concentrate on a task, and have trouble completing them. It could also lead to respond in a delayed manner, during a conversation.
Sleep patterns
People who have depression could have a messy sleep schedule. Some have to deal with insomnia, where they simply cannot find sleep, due to the load of thoughts in their brain. Other people, on the opposite, sleep all the time, or most of the time, since they can hardly go through a day, and it's a way for them to try and escape the daily activities and try to rest up.
Depression doesn't affect one gender in particular, nor an age. There is signs of depression shown in both male and females, but also children. Yes, a child can have depression, which is why it is important to listen to your kid and pay attention to subtle changes in their way of acting, depression can attack anybody.
If you experience one or many of these symptoms, please talk about it to someone. Remember that you are not alone, and that your life matters too. You're all worth a lot!
Treatments
The best way to treat depression is to talk about it with a specialist. The first person you should tell is your doctor. Why? Because they're the person who can guide you and tell you who you need to see. Your doctor knows you and your body the best and they're the one who will be able to say if you need to see a psychologist, if you need medication, therapy, etc.
Medications
A common way to treat depression is through medications, such as antidepressants antianxiety and antipsychotics. They both have their risks and advantages, which is why it's necessary to see a specialist and to know your diagnosis, so you can get the right medication with the right doses.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is the kind of treatment where you go see a specialist to talk through your illness, usually with a psychologist or a therapist. Both will give you tricks to learn to cope with it, or how to live better with it. Group therapies can also be good, since you get to hear other people experiences and how they deal with their own depression.
Exercises
Exercising, doing sports is also a good way to cope with depression, since it releases endorphin, which helps with your mood. I've read that 30 minutes for 3 to 5 days a week is good enough!
There are many other ways to cope with depression by taking care of yourself and you can easily find those online!
Hotlines
Hotlines are super great because you can talk anonymously to a stranger. That means that they can't judge you because they don't know you at all, which allows you to speak about your feelings without any worry, and they are here for you! There are many more, but those are the most important ones and some in link with my topic.
That's all for me folks!
I hope you all know more about depression and feel like it's less of a taboo. I hope you also know that you're not alone! Have a nice day or evening everyone!
Sources
https://chantelle246.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/defining-depression/amp/
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