How Can I Prevent Depression ?

About 12 percent of women in the U.S. suffer from depression--that's almost two times as many as men. Many people don't know the signs of depression, so they suffer when they do not need to. The good news is that almost 80 percent of depressed people get better with treatment.

What is clinical depression?
Clinical depression is a common form of mental illness. Depression can get in the way of caring about things, getting tasks done or enjoying life.

What are the three main types of clinical depression?

• Major depression is a mood or lost of interest that lasts most of the day and every day for at least 2 weeks or longer. It often comes back many times over the person's lifetime.
• Dysthymia is mild, and constant. It lasts 2 years or longer and it has the same signs as depression, but is milder. It doesn’t interfere with daily life.
• Bipolar or manic depression involves mood swings between depression and mania.

What causes depression?

• Medical illness
• Losing someone you love
• Stressful event
• Drugs or alcohol
• Family history of depression
• Environmental factors
• Chemical imbalance in the brain

What are the signs of depression?

• Sadness, feeling "empty" a lot of the time
• Loss of interest or pleasure in everyday life
• No interest in eating and losing weight; or overeating and gaining weight
• Sleeping too much or too little, waking very early in the morning
• Low energy, tired, feeling "slowed down"
• Feeling restless, easily irritated, or crying a lot
• Feeling guilty, worthless, helpless, hopeless, expecting the worst
• Trouble staying focused, remembering, or making decisions
• Thinking of death or suicide or trying to commit suicide

How can I tell if I am depressed?
A person is clinically depressed if he or she has five or more of these symptoms and has not been acting normal for most days during the same two-week period.

How is depression treated?
Depression is usually treated with both medicine (antidepressants) and counseling (talk therapy).