Depression: Real Illness or Fiction?

Thousands of people all around the world claim to suffer from depression.

But does it exist? What are the symptoms, consequences and impacts? Is there any treatment?

This article is aimed at answering these and many other issues.

First of all, medical researches come to a conclusion that depression is a really existing disease that strikes the human brain. The reasons of the condition appearance do not usually depend on a person and his/her mood only, though it is caused by a range of factors, such as hormones, genetics, stressful situations, specific medical conditions, hard life circumstances and a multitude of other reasons. The combination of these and many other issues contribute to specific changes in the brain chemistry leading to appearance of depression symptoms. Another reason might be hidden in the emotional sphere. Traditionally, depression appears on the ground of psychological state.

Depression is a pitiless illness that strikes men and women, young and elderly people, rich and poor. Around 20% of females and 15% of males are reported to experience depression at definite moments of their lives. The most devastating fact is that the condition is rarely diagnosed, i.e. seldom treated. Simple antidepressants or painkillers usually do all the work. However, it is a serious issue that needs exclusive attention and special cure.

How to Identify Depression?

The condition hits all the spheres of person’s life, both physical and emotional health.

The most common symptoms of depression include:

• Sadness;
• Angry outbursts;
• Irritability;
• Loss of interest in things and people once enjoyed (including friends and family, favorite activities and hobby, opposite sex);
• Troubles concentrating, memorizing, making decisions;
• Hallucinations and delusions in severe depression cases;
• Suicidal thoughts;
• Withdrawal from social activities and people around;
• Appetite changes, resulting in weight loss and gain;
• Lack of energy, fatigue;
• Disrupted sleep;
• Sexual problems and many others.

Probably each person experiences some of these symptoms from time to time, though separately they do not mark depression. However, in case you have noticed constant changes in your life enlisted above that disturb you for more than a week, you should consult your doctor immediately.

Depression Is Treatable!

Although depression can be cured, one should find a proper way to get rid of it. As with any other condition, the first step one should take is reduce or, at least, diminish the reasons of the health problem. Then, one will undergo one of several possible strategies for depression treating. Surely, the method chosen will depend on the individual, his/her symptoms, severity of the condition, personal characteristics and a range of other issues, but a doctor will probably select among types of psychotherapy. Besides, some changes in personal life, improved eating and sleeping habits, increased physical activity and reduced number of stressful situations help manage the symptoms and stimulate the recovery process.

Additionally, a health care provider can prescribe you a range of medications to suppress the issue. Antidepressants serve as great mood stabilizers and produce a preferable impact on health. They are available both in local drugstores and online pharmacies. Abilify, Asendin, Celexa, Effexor XR, Lexapro and many other medications are widely spread and commonly purchased online at reasonable prices to eliminate the symptoms of depression once and for all.

Fiction or diagnosis: Does depression really exist?

It has always been accepted in society to separate mental and physical illnesses, this is correct from a scientific point of view, because any problems always have an initial focus, which can also be located inside the human consciousness. Most psychological diseases by their nature are very scary and dangerous, because in such situations we are talking about a stable moral state for a comfortable human life. Nowadays, one of the most common diagnoses confirmed by psychiatrists is depression. Can depression really occur so often, or is it just a fiction, a desire to appear vulnerable, and in fact there is no such disease at all?

In order to answer this question, first of all you need to get acquainted with the nature of depression according to the classical and generally accepted concept, to get acquainted with how it differs from other mental problems.

As with any other disease, depression has a number of symptoms and signals that can be used to understand whether a person is really sick. First of all, it is a constant drooping mood, a complete loss of interest in life, a sense of worthlessness, uselessness, insecurity. These feelings are also accompanied by physical depression: constant drowsiness, weakness in the body, weakening of concentration. During such periods, a person is completely unable to engage in any activity and because of this falls deeper and deeper into the pit of self-examination.

Having dealt with the symptoms of the disease, many scientists tend to come to a conclusion that contradicts the established theory of depression. The opinion is increasingly gaining popularity that depression in most cases is contrived either by a psychotherapist who "confirmed" it in the patient, or by the patient himself, who wants to romanticize the disease and his feelings in order to get attention and "understanding" from his relatives and friends. If in the first case it is a brazen way of profiting from customers, then in the second it is still a psychological flaw, because what sane person would want to attribute diseases to himself? In such situations, it is still worth finding the root of the problem, being diagnosed by specialists and completely rethinking your views on life. This problem is more common among teenagers, as they are at risk due to mental instability, puberty. And the pathetic scammers who fuel this self-deception should be punished for fraud and falsification.

But despite this point of view, it does not exclude the real existence of depression. When the diagnosis of depression is clinical, it means that a person is really sick, and he needs the help of professionals. Such cases are much rarer, they are more serious and require immediate treatment, because the later you start treatment, the more difficult it will be to get out of these torments. The period of depression can last for weeks, a person morally weakens every day. Ignoring the symptoms of depression, a long period of illness, a mental disorder can so bring a person that he ends his life by suicide. In view of this, it is impossible to deny the presence of such a disease as depression. It has a place in the list of mental illnesses, along with personality disorder, schizophrenia and various types of addictions.

As a result, depression really exists. Moreover, it is quite common nowadays and requires treatment by appropriate psychologists and psychotherapists. But there are also pseudo-patients among the patients, and their number is huge. It is worth fighting this phenomenon, eradicating it by any possible means.