Medicine # 6 What it feels like Being in a Depression ??? A 5 min ...

I dont have interest in anything, I dont like doing those things which were my favourite ones. I feel tired all the time .Whatever i do these days results into failure.I am not doing any good in my studies , this is the 3rd time that i have failed in this semester. i just cant remember the time when i did something successful, and i don't think i will ever do a thing that will make even a one person happy!
I stay late at the night, when i try to sleep i start remembering all the failures that i got in the past .I wake up early in the morning, but i cant get out of the bed . sometimes i feel like there is something draging me when i try to leave the bed, i dont like going out of my house, even out of my room.
I dont like talking to my friends, i feel irritated when someone talks to me, i just cant start a conversation!
I often suffer from headaches, difficulty in breathing and abdominal pain, but my doctor says its all in My head!
Nowdays, i think there is no point in living this life, I feel like i will leave the world soon.

Those are the lines you will hear when you talk to a person having depression.

They dont like doing things they used to do , they lose interest in everything.
They cant sleep. they stay late at night and wake multiple times in night. And wake up early in the morning. But some people may have increased sleep.
they can not make even the simplest of the decision.
They become very irritable even when someone talks to them.
Their self esteem is very low, they see failure in everything they do. There is increased guilt and apathy.
Easy fatigability - they feel tired after small works, even after walking a distance, so they are confined to their house.
They cant concentrate on the studies, thus there academic perfomence will be very low.
And at the later stages suicidal thoughts appear. They think they are burden to the world and there is no point in living anymore! You may find multiple previous failed suicidal attempts!

So exactly what is Depression, what causes them to feel like that???

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You may think Depression as extreme form of emotion just like sadness, anxiety,anger, happiness etc. If you are thinking like that then you are wrong my friends. Depression is a disorder of mood, not of emotion !
To Know this first you have to know the difference between Mood and Emotion!

Emotion	Mood
It is caused by an specific event	Cause is not clear, it may occur without cause
It lasts for very short time, i.e seconds to minutes	lasts longer upto weeks
Accompanied by facial expressions	Not accompanied by facial expression
They are specific- anger, fear, surprise, happiness	They are nonspecific , +ve or -ve

The cause of depression is not fully clear but it is associated with

Major life events, death, failure, seoaration
Drug, alcohol abuse
hereditary - i,e if your mother and father are depressive you are more likely to be.
May occur without any cause
more common in female and in those who are self confined, who express less of themselves.

What happens in the brain??

Due to the etiologies mentioned above, there is Decrease in the Some sort of chemicals in the brain which are normally requird to maintain a Good mood .These are Nor-Adrenaline, Serotonin and dopamine . It is not fully understood how decrease in those causes depression but all the depressive people have decrease in level of those. And the drugs which increase the level of these chemicals have proven to improve the condition of patients with depression. And this is the basis of all Anti-depressive drug we use!

Now the Main Question! Would I be Able to Know If i have a Depression????

The answer is not simple as the question seems. In the earlier stages you may think those symptoms as part of a normal life process, you may not be able to notice those . you may think 'you are fine mentally , its just your attitude and behaviour that is wrong' . If you dont share your problem with others you do not become aware of it, only when you talk with your friends , family members about your feelings and experiences you will be able to know that something
is wrong with you!
Some people have only the physical symptoms - headaches, abdominal pain, musculoskeletal pain . They consult the doctors for these , but doctor cant find any underlying pathology related to the physical symptoms! And doctor finds that you have a depression!
Some people do not remain aware of their symptoms, they progress to later stage of disease. They start doing socially abnormal activities like attempts of suicide. Only then other people will know they have depression!
*If you are diagnosed in early stage and start taking early medication then there is nothing to worry. But most of the time it is detected in the later stage and treatment becomes difficult, you have to take lifelong medication, regularly go to psychotherapy and so on. so the main thing is to express yourself and diagnose it early!!!!