Introduction

Depression is a severe clinical illness. It is more than feeling "sad" for a few days. If you are one of the more than 19 million youth and adults in the US with depression, those feelings don't go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life.

Depression is an emotional disorder that causes a constant feeling of sadness and a loss of interest in doing different activities. Also called "major depressive disorder" or "clinical depression," it affects a person's feelings, thoughts, and behaviour and can cause a variety of physical and emotional problems. You may find it difficult to carry out everyday activities and sometimes feel that life is not worth living.

More than just a fleeting sadness, depression is not a weakness and one cannot easily recover overnight. Depression may require long-term treatment. But don't be discouraged. Most people with depression feel better with medicine, psychotherapy, or both.

Symptoms 

Although depression can occur only once in a lifetime; generally, people have several episodes of depression. During these episodes, symptoms occur for much of the day, almost every day, and may include:

• Feelings of sadness, the urge to cry, emptiness, or hopelessness
• Outbursts of anger, irritability, or frustration, even over minor matters
• Loss of interest or pleasure from most or all usual activities, such as sex, hobbies, or sports
• Sleep disturbances, such as insomnia or sleeping too much
• Tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks require more effort
• Lack of appetite and weight gain, or more food cravings and weight gain
• Anxiety, agitation, or restlessness
• Slowness to reason, speak, and make body movements
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixation on past failures, or self-blame
• Difficulty thinking, concentrating, making decisions, and remembering things
• Frequent or recurring thoughts about death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or suicide
• Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headache

For many people with depression, the symptoms are often severe enough to cause obvious problems in daily activities, such as work, school, social activities, or relationships with other people. Some people may feel unhappy or sad in general without really knowing why.

Causes

Depression is a disorder of the brain. There are many causes, including genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. Depression can start at any age, but it usually begins in youth or young adults. It is much more common in women. Women can also have postpartum depression after giving birth. Some people have seasonal effective disorder in the winter. Depression is a part of bipolar disorder .

Treatment

There are effective treatments for depression, including

antidepressants

talk therapy

or can be both

or seek a help from best psychiatrist in Islamabad