Depression is an illness that affects the whole person. It affects the body, the mind, and the spirit. Symptoms are both mental and physical. Depression can be treated.

What causes depression?
Depression can be caused by a number of the following:

• Medical illness
• Certain prescription drugs
• Alcohol
• Street drugs
• Major life changes
• Loss of loved one

There are some people that inherit a tendency to depression meaning it can come on for no known reason. Depression can lead to changes in your normal brain chemistry, your feelings, and your behavior.

Symptoms of depression include:

• Feeling down, blue, hopeless, sad, or irritable
• No longer feeling pleasure when you do things that you would normally consider to be fun
• Having low self-esteem, negative thinking, and trouble concentrating
• Feeling less energy
• Seeing changes in your appetite, weight, sleeping patterns, or having more physical pain

Most people will have signs of depression at some point in their lives. There are many tools used to treat people having depression.

Treatment options include:

• Talk to your health care provider to decide which treatments will work best for you
• Self care program can help you push yourself to do things you like to do, seek support from other people, identify and challenge your negative thoughts, get some physical activity everyday, and manage your problems.
• Counseling can help you if you have mild to moderate depression. This treatment helps you work toward solutions. It helps you re-gain your energy, move forward, and teaches you new skills.
• Drugs to treat depression are called antidepressants. They are not addictive and they do not change your personality. They work to re-balance the chemistry in your brain. They help you feel like yourself before you got depressed. They can help you sleep better, have more energy, enjoy activities again, reduce negative thoughts, reduce anxiety and fatigue, and improve your appetite.

Your very first step if you are depressed should be to ask for help!

Great post... thanks for all the information on depression. I have been depressed a few times in my lifetime... and I agree, if you are depressed, ask for help... and second... being around people who support and love you is important and helps so much.