Suicide is increasingly becoming a major issue worldwide, with nations and organizations devoting a lot of time, money and effort to analyze trends and help people overcome the tendency to commit suicide. The number of people succumbing to suicide every year is over a million with an estimated 10 to 20 million cases of attempted suicide. Most suicide cases can be traced back to ignored cases of depression or ones that lacked proper depression treatment.
There are many factors that lead a person to depression. Depression may be genetically induced. Sometimes this skips a generation and thus goes unnoticed. Depression can also be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Imbalance of serotonin, a chemical that falls in the group of neurotransmitters (chemicals that pass messages in the brain) is known to cause depression symptoms such as increased mood swings, overeating, lack of sleep and even a tendency to commit suicide. Other than these varied reasons, disturbing events in a person’s life can also cause depression. Understanding the correct reason is the deciding factor in depression treatment.
The forms of depression are as wide-ranging as the factors causing it. The different types of depression are: major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder or maniac depression and dysthymia.
Depression symptoms of MDD are usually low self esteem, laziness and grief. Depression treatment may be in the form of therapy and the intake of anti depressant drugs.
Dysthymia is less severe than MDD and is usually associated with some form of addiction (for example to drugs or alcohol). Most patients suffering from this form of depression learn to live with it and don’t volunteer to get treated. If they do come forward, depression treatment usually involves prescribing antidepressants, mood stabilizers, or anti-anxiety medication
Bipolar disorder is one of the most extreme cases of depression and usually the most dangerous too. A patient suffering from bipolar disorder has sudden mood swings and keeps swaying between an extremely happy and elevated state to (sudden shifts from ecstasy to depression swings from) being down and miserable (despondent). Depression symptoms include dangerous behavior, violent mood swings, and a tendency to commit suicide and/or hurt others. These are usually cases that cannot be left untreated for longer durations as the patients tend to hurt themselves or others as the illness becomes more severe. Depression treatment includes prescribing anti depressants, mood stabilizers and in extreme cases, confinement.
Irrespective to the type and cause, depression symptoms must be identified and treated at the earliest. The role of relatives and friends are vital in these cases in identifying the depression symptoms and guiding them to a good doctor who can provide the right depression treatment.
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