Depression Is The Coming Epidemic To Hit India!

Depression is one of the complex physical and psychological disorders. The disease is characterized by loss of pleasure or interest, sadness, feelings of guilt, low self worth, disturbed sleep and appetite, poor concentration and feelings of tiredness. The common effect of this condition leads to the decreased activity level in some parts of the brain. The disease is a mild one that causes little annoyance in daily life. But the extreme stages may lead to severe effects where the affected person may fail to participate in their social life. In rare cases severity of suicide is even possible.

Depression is diagnosed by these symptoms:

1. Lack of interest or joy in activities
2. Sadness or low mood levels
3. Feel of guilt without any reason
4. Pessimism
5. Inferiority thoughts
6. Slow thought process
7. Irritability
8. Slow in interpreting sensorial stimuli
9. Slow physical reactions
10. Slow physical processes or digestion.

Types of depression
It can be either be a single disease or the effect of other diseases. It can also be due to two or more factors. Based on the cause the disease, it has been divided into six types, which are-

1. Reactive depression: Caused due to psychological struggle and stress.
2. Endogenous depression: Caused due to strain or lack of rest.
3. Depression by physical disease: This is caused due to any physical disease such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke, hypertension, heart disease, cushing’s syndrome, mononucleosis, hypothyroidism neurotransmitters in the brain etc.
4. Depressive consequence of unsound lifestyle: This is caused due to less exercise, too much alcohol, coffee or tea consumption, least intake of necessary nutrients, too much sugar intake and fat.
5. Postnatal depression: This happens mostly in women after pregnancy and child birth.
6. Seasonal affective disorder: This happen due to cold and dark seasons of the year. The lack of light is the factor for causing depression as well.

Treatment of depression

If treatment of depression is to be discussed, preventive measures should be given importance. A healthy lifestyle, maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships, avoiding substance addiction, regular exercise are key protecting factors for not only depression, but for many metabolic, non-communicable, modern day lifestyle disorders as well. However in case of syndromal depression, professional help should be sought, which usually include medications and psychotherapy.