wot is depression

[gal4God]

how is it different 4rm just being depressed and wot is it. my best freind thinks i could have it so i think its a gud idea 2 find out more.

 

[Mrs. Luther073082]

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm


http://psychcentral.com/disorders/depression/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_depression

 

[aboutface]

This is not a clinical description but it is from my experience. Depression is a debilitating illness. I suffered from it for more than 20 yrs before being diagnosed. My good days were worse than most peoples bad days. There was no joy in life. Going to work was an effort. Eating was an effort. Getting out of my own way took a lot of effort.
I could tell jokes, but then wonder why people laughed.
In some people, (like myself) depression is caused by or becomes a chemical imbalance in the brain. Mine was specifically a lack of seratonin. Which was caused by one of two things, either the gland that produced seratonin shut down or my body absorbed way too much of it from my blood stream. In either case the end result is that seratonin (the Joy hormone) was absent from my body.
The fix, and this is not medical advice, this is mere anecdote. for my case was a seratonin re-uptake inhibitor. Mouth full of words I know but commonly called SRI. Specifically Zoloft. I ended up having to take 100 mg per day.
After several yrs I was able to stop taking them slowly. Do not do this without the help of your GP if you are on these tablets or any others. I did, it hurts. Big time.
I am cured of long term depression, Praise be to our God, however I still have sad days. This is normal.
Depression is an abiding sadness, a thing that you may not even be aware of ( I certainly wasn't) I thought everyone felt the way I did just some were on drugs to hide it, or they were crazy.
As I said this is not medical expertise, but one thing I do know about depression, people who have never been there have a lot of difficulty understanding those who are there.
Please check out the sites suggested by the previous respondant, and get yourself to a GP you can trust, and ask him/her to test you for depression. it should take about half an hour of questions some of which may seem to have no bearing but will at the end give a very good idea of where you are at.
Bear in mind, if you are depressed this may all seem too hard for you. if that is the case then get someone to come alongside quickly and to help you get to the GP.

 

[Gentle]

just a state of mind like any other, a perception ultimately

 

[Kamtre]

I like how aboutfave put it. I have been depressed twice, and was absolutely downright sad. I was sad about life, my life, etc. I wasn't suicidal, but I did cut myself, just for something to do to distract me from my sadness.. I always thought that depressd people should just wake up and smell the flowers, but now I really do understand it.