{"id":351,"date":"2022-04-27T14:58:48","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T14:58:48","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-09-05T14:13:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T06:13:24","slug":"depression-signs-symptoms-and-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/depression-signs-symptoms-and-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Depression: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses with the most resources available for those suffering, but that doesn\u2019t make the struggle of being depressed any less serious. Depression affects approximately 280 million people <\/a>worldwide. It\u2019s a mood disorder that alters your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Depression is characterized by symptoms such as frequent low mood, low motivation, lack of desire to socialize, an inability to cope with the stressors of everyday life, and feelings of hopelessness.<\/p>\n

Depression differs from simply \u2018feeling blue\u2019 in that it often persists for years, even with attempts to seek treatment. Significant emotional traumas such as the death of a loved one, giving birth or going through hardships can lead to depression, but sometimes there\u2019s no particular cause for the onset. Depression is often diagnosed in conjunction with other psychiatric disorders such as anxiety or panic disorders. Frustratingly, major depressive disorder can occur for seemingly no reason at all. In these cases, it\u2019s often a chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters or a structural difference of the brain that has resulted in depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dorsal and medial prefrontal cortex, the dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex of the insula are the areas of the cortical brain that are impacted by depression,\u201d says Dr. Paul Poulakos<\/a>, a psychiatrist at Greenwich Village Psychiatry in New York. \u201cAdditionally, decreased hippocampal volumes, decreased amygdala core volume often occurs in clinical depression, [as well as] increased activation of the amygdala. Furthermore, decreased serotonin is found in depression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signs and Symptoms of Depression<\/h2>\n

The signs and symptoms of depression can impair your ability to do even the most basic tasks. This is why depressed individuals often have a messy apartment<\/a> or poor personal hygiene. Simply getting out of bed and keeping a clean home often feels impossible in the throes of depression.<\/p>\n

Sadly, even when depression is more manageable, people who live with it often report that it negatively impacts their professional and social lives, as well as their outlook on life. This means that even a high-functioning depressed person will still often deal with internal struggles that others aren\u2019t aware of.<\/p>\n

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Some symptoms of depression include:<\/p>\n