Depression

Depression Many people suffer from a disease that affects them day in and day out. Sadly, many do not believe that this disease is even serious, but if it is left untreated or if it is improperly treated, it could be fatal. What is this disease' It is depression. Dr. Ainsworth states that “depression is not a sign of character weakness; it is a total body illness” (x). Everyone experiences sadness occasionally, but depression will persist for a period of two or more weeks. According to The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, depression is “a mental illness characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness of despair and/or a loss of interest in things that were once pleasurable” (Olendorf 924). There are many symptoms that accompany depression, both mental and physical. Some of these symptoms include things such as: • significant change in weight • Insomnia( sleeplessness) or hypersomnia (constant sleeping) • Under eating or over eating • Fatigue of loss of energy • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt • Recurrent thoughts of suicide or death • Headache or backache • Stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, or constipation • Dizziness, numbness, or memory problems (Ainsworth 10; Olendorf 926). Depression is a very complex disease. There tends to be a combination of factors that depression, therapy, very, treatment, disease, people, symptoms, alternative, type, serious, antidepressants, anders, two, suffer, states, someone, seek, prescribed, popular, over, one, olendorf, loss, last, half, effects, effective, day, combination, brain, ainsworth, years, untreated, united, uncaring, types, treated, time, through, things, tcas, suicide, side, show, serotonin, sadness, plays, person’s, person, persistent