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Depression, also known as depressive disorders or unipolar depression, is amental illness characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in things that once were pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep, appetite, and mental processes are a common accompaniment.
Description
Everyone experiences feelings of unhappiness and sadness occasionally. However, when these depressed feelings start to dominate everyday life without a recent loss or trauma and cause physical and mental deterioration, they become what is known as depression. Each year in the United States, depression affects an estimated 17 million people at an approximate annual direct and indirect cost of $53 billion. One in four women is likely to experience an episode of severe depression in her lifetime, with a 10–20% lifetime prevalence, compared to 5–10% for men. The average age a first depressive episode occurs is in the mid-20s, although the disorder strikes all age groups indiscriminately, from children to the elderly.
There are two main categories of depression: major depressive disorder anddysthymic disorder. Major depressive disorder is a moderate to severe episode of depression lasting two or more weeks. Individuals experiencing this major depressive episode may have trouble sleeping, lose interest in activities in which they once took pleasure, experience a change in weight, have difficulty concentrating, feel worthless and hopeless, or have a preoccupation with death orsuicide. In children, major depression may appear as irritability.
While major depressive episodes may be acute (intense but short-lived), dysthymic disorder is an ongoing, chronic depression that lasts two or more years (one or more years in children) and has an average duration of 16 years. The mild to moderate depression of dysthymic disorder may rise and fall in intensity, and those afflicted with the disorder may experience some periods of normal, nondepressed mood of up to two months in length. Its onset is gradual, and dysthymic patients may not be able to pinpoint exactly when they started feeling depressed. Individuals with dysthymic disorder may experience a change in sleeping and eating patterns, low self-esteem, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and feelings of hopelessness.
Depression also can occur in bipolar disorder, an affective mental illness that causes radical emotional changes and mood swings, from manic highs to depressive lows. The majority of bipolar individuals experience alternating episodes of mania and depression.
DefinitionDescriptionCauses & symptomsMajor depressive episodeDysthymic disorderDiagnosisTreatmentPsychosocial therapyChinese medicine and herbalsOrthomolecular therapyHomeopathic remediesLight therapyAllopathic treatmentDrugsElectroconvulsive therapyExpected resultsPreventionBOOKSPERIODICALSORGANIZATIONS
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