Depression: A Mental Illness

Depression is a common mental disorder, characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration. Depression can be long-lasting or recurrent, substantially impairing an individual’s ability to function at work or school or cope with daily

Depression is a mental health disorder characterized by constant depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life. It is the most common mental illness amongst adults but, it can affect people of every age. There are more than three million case per year for depression. Hippocrates was a Greek physician and is considered one of the most considered figures in the history of medicine. He discovered depression and found that it was caused by an imbalance in four body fluids called yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood. Depression greatly impacts people lives by causing problems at work, affecting relationships, and having suicidal thoughts.

Depression is an affective disorder, demonstrating many symptoms such as “hopelessness, helplessness, personal devaluation, and extreme sadness” (depression, 1).Though sadness is something everyone experiences, people who have

Evidence shows that Major Depression Disorder has been around four thousands of years. In the fourth century BC, Hippocrates referred to a group of symptoms including loss of appetite, insomnia, flat affect, and irritability as melancholia (Jackson). Taking accountability of melancholia appeared in ancient Mesopotamian texts in the second millennium B.C. At this time, any mental illness had something to do with the demons. It had to be checked by the priests. The first time that there was an understanding of depression it was truly considered more of a spiritual illness caused by demons rather than a physical illness. Ancient Greeks and Romans put taught about the causes of melancholia. For example in the 5th

Depression is a very common in today’s society. This condition is a severe feeling of sadness and self-worthlessness. Depression changes how you think, feel, and also affects your social behavior and sense of physical wellness. Although it can make you have low self-esteem, depression is not feeling sad, it is the constants feeling sadness that stays with you every single day. Aside from being a serious medical illness, it is also a lifelong condition, which leads to a recurrence illness. It affects 5-8 percent of adults in the United States, which means about 25 million Americans will have an episode of major depression within this year alone (Wayne, 2013, p.62). If not treated it can affect the way you feel, act, and think. It can also cause you to treat friends and family differently. Depression almost affects nearly everyone through losing a family member or personal experiences. As well depression has often lead to suicide in mean untreated cases. Depression

Depression is something that has been seen all throughout history. Biblical figures such as Job, King Saul, and even Kind David expressed signs of depression throughout their writings. An example of this is seen when Job cries out, “"Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, 'A boy is conceived” (3:3). An exhaustive list of famous individuals can be found on Wikipedia whom have suffered from major depressive disorder throughout history including names such as Isaac Newton, Michelangelo, Robin Williams, Janet Jackson, and Princess Diana. Prior to the 20th century depression was seen as more of a mood disorder rather than an actual illness.

Depression haunts the lives of many. It exists in many forms, takes various guises and has been recognised for many centuries. Over two thousand years ago the Greek physician

Depression is an illness that involves one person’s mood, body, and thought. It also affects their sleep, how they eat and how they

Many documents have been written by healers, writers and philosophers throughout history that point to existence of depression.

Depression has been prominent for as long as we can go back in time. Way back when depression was so to speak different than it is now, the people of the time related depression to an excess of the humor associated with coldness and dryness - black bile (Haddad,2011). Back in the day when there was always a reason for something to be occurring for example, an excess of humor resulted in depression, grief and fear were characteristic features of depression, as well as strong influences for melancholia. This concept includes depression and anxiety, both of which were referred to as one condition until the mid to late 19th century. Depression can affect anyone at almost any age. However, Depression has a higher incidence in nonwhite, female individuals. Along with non white females, those who have completed less than a highschool diploma, as well as those living in poverty also report several times higher feelings of depression. (McCarter, 2018). Symptoms of depression can vary, some of the most common symptoms of depression are: loss of interest in activities, sadness, irritability, feelings of of worthlessness, hopelessness, guilt, anxiety, suicidal ideations, decrease in appetite, weight loss, sleep disturbances, and decreased energy

Emily Dickinson, in one of her many infamous writings stated “The brain- is wider than the sky” (Dickinson Dickinson left her mark on composition long before the discovery of the expansive capabilities of the mind, but she was being more intuitive than she even thought in this quote. She is discussing the abstract ability of the human mind- the ability to imagine. Her thought, however, is also congruent to the fact that the human brain works in such a strange pattern of chemicals, and our thought process in itself is a very intricate thing. Depression is a seemingly complex state of mind that we as a people are trying to understand right now, and its roots could go deeper than we

Like many things in life, to fully understand something, you must know every aspect of it. Depression has not developed recently; it has been around for quite some time. “Historical documents written by healers, philosophers and writers throughout the ages, point to the long-standing existence of depression as a health problem. Initially depression was called “melancholia”. The earliest accounts of melancholia appeared in ancient Mesopotamian text in

Researchers are uncertain as to what goes on in ones mind and life thats causes depression. Some believe that the neurotransmitters, a chemical that the brain uses to communicate, combined with outside factors - stress, loneliness, illness, and even genetics - can cause one to become depressed (Depression (Major Depression Disorder)). Most do not realize that depression is a biological disease/disorder, in truth, one third of Americans are under the belief that depression is a weakness of either personal or emotional (Diverse). Those that suffer from this disorder do not realize it or do not want to admit there is anything wrong (Berglas). It is important to identify and recognize that one has a problem, depression may be called the “common cold of mental illness” (University of Texas) but if left untreated, just like the common cold, it has the potential to become worse - even fatal. Once a problem has been identified, most people can be treated with medication and psychotherapy, but in some cases the true cause may never be known.

“Depression is a disturbance in mood, thought, and body characterized by varying degrees of sadness, disappointment, loneliness, hopelessness, self-doubt, and guilt”.

There exists a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation among the American public regarding depression. While depression is recognized as a clinically diagnosable and treatable mental illness the term is also commonly used by lay people to describe nothing more that a "depressed" mood. This casual reference to a serious medical condition discounts its validity and creates a stigma for those with true depression. In fact many view depression as nothing more than an emotional weakness in others (Blonna, 1996).