How to Fight Depression
Understanding Depression
Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.
Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed.
It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.
Next we shall look at the major symptoms of depression.
Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:
🔹Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
🔹Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
🔹Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
🔹Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
🔹Loss of energy or increased fatigue
Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, handwringing) or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others)
🔹Feeling worthless or guilty
🔹Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
🔹Thoughts of death or suicide.
What causes depression?
Depression is thought to have a number of possible causes.
One such cause can be trauma experienced in early childhood.
This is due to the body reacting to stressful and fearful situations adversely.
Another cause of depression may be genetics and the condition has been known to be inherited, making you more likely to develop depression if a parent or family member has it.
As with several mental conditions, the cause may have a number of contributing factors, these include:
👉🏻 biological changes 👉🏻 brain chemistry
👉🏻 Hormones
👉🏻inherited genes
However, the exact cause of the condition is not yet known
Find encouragement and support through 1:1 messaging and advice from others dealing with major depressive disorder
On days when you feel as if you can’t get out of bed, exercise may seem like the last thing you’d want to do. However, exercise and physical activity can help to lower symptoms of depression and boost energy levels.
Try to stop this overgeneralization. Push yourself to recognize the good. If it helps, write down what was meaningful about the event or day.
You may not feel like celebrating with a cake and confetti, but recognizing your own successes can be a powerful weapon against depression’s negative weight. Thoughts etc.