What is depression?

Depression may be defined as the feeling of unhappiness that lasts for a long period of time. It is considered as a mental health condition but may have physical signs.
It is a major mental disorder as well as the most common one hence also known as the common cold of mental disorder. More than 10 million cases are found per year in India.

It is a serious mental illness which affects your feelings, thinking, etc. People often have suicidal thoughts during depression. It causes feeling of sadness, hopelessness or loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of physical, emotional and mental problems.

Depression may have following symptoms:-

• Feeling sad
• Loss of pleasure in activities
• Changes in appetite (both weight loss or gain)
• Sleep disturbance (both lack and excess of sleep)
• Fatigue.
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Thoughts of suicide

But depression is a way different from sadness hence these symptoms must last at least a period of two weeks for a diagnosis of depression.

Mostly teenagers are affected by this disorder and especially the women during the cyclic changes of menstruation. There are some cases of child depression too.

There is a very deep biology of the depression, not going into the depth of biology and psychology. Generally it can be represented as the darkness, not the physical darkness but the mental darkness, the darkness in thoughts.

Fortunately it can be cured!!