Depression
Kajsa Nilsson SA3b
In near future, our society has become full of stress and musts and there is no way to stop time for a moment. No matter how many hours one day consist of, there are people around us who put heart and soul into do all their everyday tasks, but still cannot without their heart beating doubled. There are people around us who have been through tragic cases, which have led to a whole new life view for them. All around us, there are people who are told that they’re not worth anything and struggling not to commit suicide. Of course, these lead to consequences, for example the disease depression. Today diseases that come from stress have become more common, including the disease depression. Depression can be caused by many different reasons. Because of the society people today have shaped, more people than we think is suffering from so called depression and the subject has been a social issue that is in need of a solution. So, what’s the certain meaning of depression? Why do people get depressed and which people are we especially talking about? Depression is a mental illness that involves much more than that you daily feel empty and sad. The most common explanation for depression is “a change in your mood”, but it is important to realize that depression is not a mood. The change in your mood is only considered the main symptom of depression. In the beginning, it’s an unaware disease. With the time, you feel that your joy is replaced by sadness and you also become a pessimism rather than optimism. A negative attitude to everything is shaped while you feel like everything is considered to go against you. Being depressed feels differently for different people, no matter what form of depression they have. The idea of a depressed person is lack of energy and tiredness. A depressed person doesn’t want to live anymore and have the inability to feel pleasure. Everything that earlier was experienced as fun has lost value. For example, it’s not fun anymore to meet friends or performing activities on your sparetime. The only thing you are thinking of, is to find back to your joy, but you can’t because of exhaustion. A depressed person's day life becomes therefore hour filled with worry. The person’s emotions are filled of emptiness and self-doubt and some of them feel guilt and shame. They can, for example, think that it is their own fault that they feel bad and they do not deserve better. The future feels like an empty hole and every decision seems difficult. A depressed person also has a lack of energy to have a social life. Sleep- and concentration problems are a sign as well. The appetite can also be disturbed, either one way or the other. Some depressed people eat snacks while others skip meals. There are different reasons why people get depressed. It can be from a for example dramatic event or completely without visible things. There are doctors who say that depression arises because of disorders in the levels of signal substances in the brain, for example the substance serotonin. A person with depression has low levels of signal substances. However, doctors has still not figured out how these low levels of signal substances affect the brain, They just know that serotonin is changing at a depression because serotonin stops being effective and that leads to consequences. So, dockors know that a change in the brain can lead to depression, but they don't know how signal substances affect the rest of the brain and why the change happened. It is important to know that there often are more than one reason why a person get diagnosed with the disease depression. There is evidence that psychological factors play a major role. If a person has had bad conditions earlier in life, it can affect the person in the future. It can for example have been a conflict, physical violence, sexual abuse, a tough childhood, alcoholic parents, bullying or hidden handicaps, for example ADHD. These factors lead to a standing time of stress, which can causing that many become depressed. Psychodynamic therapy believes that the main reason of depression is created during the first living years. They believe that if a child had a bad relationship with one of the most important people in his or her life, usually the mother, it can causes depression. Because this child starts early to build up evil energies to himself or herself and to others. According to psychodynamic therapy, these energies will be activated later in life. Some people says that heritage could be a reason to depression, but most of them instead says that a person whose relatives have or had depression, is just more sensitive than other people. It's the environmental factors that trigger depression. Because there are many people who don't visit a doctor, it is always difficult to put a specific number how many people who suffer from depression, but today we know the number has increased. The reason can both be that the demands in our daily life have become higher and that more people are visit doctors. Back in time, it was a shame if someone in your family was mental sick. Families dind't even tell their friends and it could even go so far that they hide the person at home. Today it has become much more common with mental illnesses and it's easier to talk about it. Instead of being ashamed of their illness, people nowadays dare to be open about it. In Sweden, it's said that 5% of the country's population is suffering from depression right now. Why are more women than men hit by the disease depression? Some people believe that it has to do with how hormones influence the brain. Women and men have different types of hormones. The man's hormone makes him more self-independent than women. A woman priorities others more than herself while caring and good relations are in focus. The man and the woman think differently in certain situations because their bodies produce different hormones, which leads to that male depression may look different from a female depression. You can see it clearer when it comes to depression during the teens. During puberty, your hormones play jokes with your body. Boys’ hormone makes boys more socially independent than girls of the same age. Girls are more dependent on other people. If a girl would not have a good relationship with her parents during the teens, it can result in depression. Therefore, many people says that it’s the reason why more women are hit by depression. In conclusion, there is no way to stop time for a moment or a way to add a few extra hours in the day. The citizens need to pause and reflect over what’s most important in life so that they won’t feel stressed and become depressed. Be consisted that it’s important to tell someone if you feel bad, whatever it is. Even if you just feel stressed over homework in school or if you have been through a tragic episode, don’t doubt to talk to someone.