-
Depression is the leading cause
of disability in the world.
-
In the United States,
-
close to 10% of adults
struggle with depression.
-
But because it's a mental illness,
-
it can be a lot harder to understand,
than say, high cholesterol.
-
One major source of confusion is
the difference between having depression
-
and just feeling depressed.
-
Almost everyone feels down
from time to time.
-
Getting a bad grade,
-
losing a job,
-
having an argument,
-
even a rainy day can bring on
feelings of sadness.
-
Sometimes there's no trigger at all.
-
It just pops up out of the blue.
-
Then circumstances change,
-
and those sad feelings disappear.
-
Clinical depression is different.
-
It's a medical disorder,
-
and it won't go away
just because you want it to.
-
It lingers for at least
two consecutive weeks,
-
and significantly interferes
with one's ability to work,
-
play,
-
or love.
-
Depression can have a lot
of different symptoms:
-
a low mood,
-
loss of interest in things
you'd normally enjoy,
-
changes in appetite,
-
feeling worthless or excessively guilty,
-
sleeping either too much or too little,
-
poor concentration,
-
restlessness or slowness,
-
loss of energy,
-
or recurrent thoughts of suicide.
-
If you have at least five
of those symptoms,
-
according to psychiatric guidelines,
-
you qualify for a diagnosis of depression.
-
And it's not just behavioral symptoms.
-
Depression has physical manifestations
inside the brain.
-
First of all,
-
there are changes that could be seen
with the naked eye
-
and x-ray vision.
-
These include smaller frontal lobes
ad hippocampal volumes.
-
On a more microscale,
-
depression is associated
with a few things:
-
the abnormal transmission or depletion
of certain neurotransmitters,
-
especially serotonin, norepinephrine,
and dopamine,
-
blunted circadian rhythms,
-
or specific changes in the REM
and slow-wave parts of your sleep cycle,
-
and hormone abnormalities,
-
such as high cortisol and deregulation
of thyroid hormones.
-
But neuroscientists still don't have
a complete picture
-
of what causes depression.
-
It seems to have to do with a complex
interaction between genes and environment,
-
but we don't have a diagnostic tool
-
that can accurately predict where
or when it will show up.
-
And because depression symptoms
are intangible,
-
it's hard to know who might look fine
but is actually struggling.
-
According to the National Institute
of Mental Health,
-
it takes the average person
suffering with a mental illness
-
over ten years to ask for help.
-
But there are very effective treatments.
-
Medications and therapy compliment
each other to boost brain chemicals.
-
In extreme cases,
electroconvulsive therapy,
-
which is like a controlled seizure
in the patient's brain,
-
is also very helpful.
-
Other promising treatments,
-
like transcranial magnetic stimulation,
-
are being investigated, too.
-
So, if you know someone
struggling with depression,
-
encourage them gently to seek out
some of these options.
-
You might even offer to help
with specific tasks,
-
like looking up therapists in the area,
-
or making a list of questions
to ask a doctor.
-
To someone with depression,
-
these first steps can seem insurmountable.
-
If they feel guilty or ashamed,
-
point out that depression
is a medical condition,
-
just like asthma or diabetes.
-
It's not a weakness
or a personality trait,
-
and they shouldn't expect themselves
to just get over it
-
anymore than they could will themselves
to get over a broken arm.
-
If you haven't experienced
depression yourself,
-
avoid comparing it to times
you've felt down.
-
Comparing what they're experiencing
to normal, temporary feelings of sadness
-
can make them feel guilty for struggling.
-
Even just talking about
depression openly can help.
-
For example, research shows that asking
someone about suicidal thoughts
-
actually reduces their suicide risk.
-
Open conversations about mental illness
help erode stigma
-
and make it easier
for people to ask for help.
-
And the more patients seek treatment,
-
the more scientists will learn
about depression,
-
and the better the treatments will get.