Clinical Depression
Do you find yourself feeling down more than up? When you crawl out of bed in the morning do you find yourself hitting snooze over and over struggling with the idea of having to face another day? Maybe it’s even hard to convince yourself of the need to take a shower and brush your teeth. If any of these describe you there is a good chance you are suffering from some form of clinical depression.
Everyone experiences depression at some point in life. This is natural for example when you lose a loved one but those suffering from clinical depression feel those types of feelings often or may be even all the time. There doesn’t have to be a legitimate reason to feel down. They just do. The person suffering from clinical depression may not even know or understand why they feel the way they do. They just know they feel empty inside as if something is missing in their life.
Millions of people suffer from clinical depression. Some are young and some are old. Some may have known for years and some may just be finding out. No one really understands exactly what lies as the cause of depression. What we do know if limited and often debated amongst different experts in the mental health field. The long standing theory is that clinical depression stems from a lack of a certain neurotransmitter in the brain know as serotonin but we have no effective way to test this while a person is still alive. The answer to what is seemingly the problem is chemical antidepressants designed to increase the levels of serotonin and thus relieving symptoms of depression. If only it were that simple we would have to read about all the children and families torn apart by depression. Husbands wouldn’t beat wives as a result of depression. Parents wouldn’t abuse their children as result of depression. Children wouldn’t run away as a result of depression. And the list goes on and on. There is no evidence to support it but I would venture a guess that everyone in the world has at some point in some tiny way been affected by depression. They may not have lost someone close or have a loved one who suffer from depression but surely at some point they have been touched in some way. The difficult thing about clinical depression is we don’t have a sure fire way of treating or curing it and we won’t until we can first figure out the sure fire reason behind its cause. Could it be as some suggest the lifestyles we lead? Could it be the diets we keep? Are we not getting enough sunlight? So many theories exist on what causes depression it’s hard to know where to begin. The list of treatments can be just as confusing itself as any people are in disagreement over the best path to take.
For years it has been recommended that antidepressants are the cure all but recent studies have brought speculation on just how effective chemical drugs are. Then you have the alternative methods such as St. John’s Wort which has been very promising in clinical studies but there is enough solid evidence to call for the replacement of antidepressants, at least not yet. St John’s Wort also has a few nasty side effects such as sensitivity to light although this is very rare and much less severe than side effects of a standard antidepressant which can cause side effects such as weight gain. Still yet, if you are not the type to put anything into your body you may turn to self help methods which include self help books and or self help groups.
These groups don’t have to be part of a professional therapy routine as any type of support group is often highly recommended by health care professionals. Suffering from clinical depression will most likely be the most difficult thing a person faces in life but with the right attitude, support group, and treatment plan that person has a very high chance of living a completely normal life. Depression is nothing to be ashamed of and can be effectively held in check when not hidden away.