Depression

What is depression?
Everyone occasionally feels sad, but these feelings are usually fleeting and pass within a couple of days. When a woman has a depressive disorder, it interferes with daily life and normal functioning, and causes pain for both the woman with the disorder and those who care about her. Depression is a common but serious illness, and most who have it need treatment to get better.

Depression affects both men and women, but more women than men are likely to be diagnosed with depression in any given year.1 Efforts to explain this difference are ongoing, as researchers explore certain factors that are unique to women.

Symptoms of depression include a depressed mood and feelings of loneliness, sadness, and unhappiness. Almost all people feel depressed at times, usually due to a troubling event or circumstance. Ongoing depression, however, is problematic. Ongoing or major depression is a serious condition that is associated with harmful symptoms, such as extreme fatigue and disinterest in usual activities. This Profile describes the adult population with major depression.

Types of depression
• Major depressive disorder:-This is a combination of symptoms that hurt a person’s ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy hobbies.
• Dysthymic disorder:- This kind of depression lasts for a long time. The symptoms are less severe than major depression but can prevent you from living normally or feeling well.
Some kinds of depression show slightly different symptoms than those described above. Some may start after a particularon how to label and define these forms of depression. They include:
• Psychotic depression:- which occurs when a severe depressive illness happens with some form of psychosis, such as a break with reality, hallucinations, and delusions.
• Postpartum depression:- which is diagnosed if a new mother has a major depressive episode within one month after delivery.
• Seasonal affective disorder:- which is a depression during the winter months, when there is less natural sunlight.

Causes depression:-
• Genetics  – If a woman has a family history of depression, she may be more at risk of developing it herself. However, depression may also occur in women who don’t have a family history of depression.
• Chemical imbalance – The brains of people with depression look different than those who don’t have depression. Also, the parts of the brain that manage your mood, thoughts, sleep, appetite, and behavior don’t have the right balance of chemicals.
• Hormonal factors – Menstrual cycle changes, pregnancy, miscarriage, postpartum period, perimenopause, and menopause may all cause a woman to develop depression.
• Stress – Stressful life events such as trauma, loss of a loved one, a bad relationship, work responsibilities, caring for children and aging parents, abuse, and poverty may trigger depression in some people.
• Medical illness – Dealing with serious medical illnesses like stroke, heart attack, or cancer can lead to depression.

Common Signs and Symptoms
Physical Changes
• Changes in appetite – with a resultant loss or weight gain.
• Sleep disturbances- with trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or sleeping too much.
• Sleep, when it comes, is not restorative. Feeling worse in the morning.
• Decreased energy, with feelings of weakness and physical fatigue.
• Some people experience agitation with restlessness and a need to move.
• Phantom pains, headaches, muscle aches and pains, with no known physical cause.
• Gastrointestinal upsets- constipation.

Changes in Thinking
• Thoughts are slowed, difficulty thinking, concentrating or remembering information.
• Decision-making is difficulty and often avoided.
• Obsessive ruminations, sense of impending doom or disaster.
• Preoccupation with perceived failures or personal inadequacies.
• Harshly self critical and unfairly judgemental.
• In extreme cases there can be a loss of touch with reality, perhaps hearing voices or having strange fixed ideas.
• Persistent thoughts of death, suicide or attempts to hurt oneself.

Changes in Feeling
• Loss of interest in activities that were once a source of pleasure.
• Decreased interest in and enjoyment from sex.
• Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and excessive guilt.
• Deadening or an absence of feelings.
• Sense of overwhelming or impending doom.
• Loss of self-esteem.
• Feeling sad, blue, down in the dumps.
• Unexplained crying for no apparent reason.
• Irritability, impatience, anger and aggressive feelings.

Changes in Behaviour
• Withdrawal from social, work and leisure activities.
• Avoidance of decision-making.
• Neglecting duties such as housework, gardening, paying bills.
• Decrease in physical activity and exercise.
• Reduced self-care such as personal grooming, eating.
• Increased use of alcohol or drugs.

Health Conditions