Feeling Sad - Can It Be A Sign Of Depression?

Although you may develop depression even if you are not genetically predisposed to it, the risks are much higher, if someone in your family already has it. If any of your parents, siblings or siblings of your parents suffer or have suffered from depression as working adults, then you are very likely to develop it as well. Thus, it is important to visit a doctor at the first signs of trouble and keep a close tab on the symptoms before it spirals into a full-fledged problem.

Depression manifests in different people in different forms. The manifestations of the symptoms also vary a lot between men and women. While women may feel apathetic, empty, sad and lifeless many men tend to be angry and restless. The anger and restlessness as well as the sadness and emptiness usually come from the same feelings of hopelessness that nothing ever in their life is going to change. In working adults, this will disrupt their family life, relationships and most importantly their career as well.

Depression brings along with it memory and concentration problems. While you can push through work or sit and watch a movie or TV, reading becomes an almost insurmountable task. You may find it very difficult to concentrate or read. This may happen not just with a book, but reading material that may be related to your profession. You tend to get easily distracted and have memory problems trying to retain information.

This is a very common misconception that depression is just a phase in a person's life, triggered by an event or problem. However, this is not the case, even if the depression is triggered by an event, such as the loss of a close one. Depression is caused due to a chemical imbalance in the brain and no one can simply snap out of it. Therapy, consultation, counseling and medication are be required over a period of time to help someone come out of it.