Depression is a serious mental health issue. Statistics indicate it affects 18.8 million American adults annually. Characteristics of the problem include persistent sadness, a sense of hopelessness and lethargy. Medical doctors prescribe various medications to help individuals cope with depression and anxiety.

Depression causes individuals to feel a lack of pleasure from activities in their day to day life. People say they have a general feeling of overall sadness, despair and inability to complete normal daily tasks to their satisfaction. Depression may also add complications to other medical conditions. There can be very serious consequences for those with depression who do not seek treatment.

Depression can be described as a faithful companion that never seems to be far from your side. There are times when you feel somewhat better for a period, but then suddenly out of the blue, your not so long lost friend creeps up on you when you least expected.

The increased diagnoses of depression over the past thirty years may, in fact, be due to a growing recognition that it is an emotional disorder which surfaces in a variety of ways. Although the word "depression" is often bandied about among people who are unhappy or disappointed about some of their circumstances, they use it with no real understanding of what clinical depression is.

Pregnancy and depression are closely linked to one another. Depression during pregnancy is difficult to avoid due to various hormonal and other changes taking place in a woman's body. Depression can be dangerous to the health of both the fetus and the mother.

True depression can surface in many ways, and have many underlying factors, but all diagnosed cases of clinical depression have one thing in common--their duration. Depression is not the same as having the blues for a few weeks when a friend moves away or beating up on yourself because someone else got the promotion you were after. It's perfectly natural, and even healthy, to have negative reactions to those kinds of experiences, but if you can continue on with your daily life and feel good about other things, you are not depressed.

Depression is a disease, a mental affliction. Getting the right depression treatment at the right time is vitally important. To someone suffering from depression, it is not only extremely stressful for the patient themselves but also people who are concern about them, especially their good friends and relatives. People who have a medical condition from severe anxiety and depression symptoms often cannot hold a job for very long and often do not feel like leaving the house.

Dual diagnosis is a condition that is comprised of two components; a psychiatric disorder and drug addiction or alcohol addiction. While many people understand drug addiction or alcoholism, a great deal are confused when it comes to depression. Depression is best described as a mood disorder with a wide range of symptoms such as a loss of pleasure, feelings of worthlessness or suicidal thoughts.

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