Clinical Depression

Also known as unipolar depression or major depressive disorder, clinical depression is a very serious mental illness affecting individuals who suffer from it in a variety of ways.

People who suffer from clinical depression feel constantly sad and lose interest and pleasure in the activities they used to enjoy.

Other symptoms include

• sleep disorders
• loss of appetite
• inability to focus
• physical pains 
• memory problems

Those who are depressed feel helpless and worthless about their ability to make things right. They welcome sleep and view their waking life as a nightmare. Though they might try hard to snap out of it, they fall into their deeper and deeper and have nothing to hold on to.

Although clinical depression can affect anyone at any age, it is more common in people between the ages of 25 and 44. In some cases, even if untreated, it goes away by itself. Doctors attribute this to the tendency of our body to recover from abnormal situations.

What Causes Clinical Depression?

As antidepressant medicines are so effective in dealing with clinical depression, many scientists have started to wonder whether it has a biological, rather than psychological basis. However, further research has shown that both genetics and stress play an important part in clinical depression.

Stress has been proved to play an important part in the first two stages of major depression, but not later. Genetics and temperament are more important in later episodes.

It seems clinical depression often needs stress in order to get it started. However after a couple of episodes, it keeps going by itself and no longer needs stress.

This pattern is common to most cases of mental illness. A treatment for clinical depression should consider the role that stress, genetics and temperament play. Unfortunately, many of the current therapies lack this complex approach.

Symptoms Of Clinical Depression

Individuals who suffer from depression experience five or more of the following symptoms for more than a couple of weeks.

• One of the symptoms is either a depressed mood or loss of interest and pleasure:
• Depressed mood for most of the day, almost every day, either reported by the patient himself or observed by others. In children or teenagers, it can be an irritable mood. 
• Decreased interest and pleasure in the usual activities, almost every day 
• Significant weight loss or weight gain (more than 5% of body weight) or changes in appetite 
• Insomnia or exaggerated sleep 
• Agitation or retardation almost every day 
• Feelings of worthlessness or exaggerated guilt 
• Decreased ability to think or focus or indecisiveness, almost every day 
• Suicidal or death thoughts, plans to or attempts to commit suicide

These symptoms interfere with everyday activities and important areas of the patient's life. They are not the direct effect of certain substances, such as medication or drugs, or caused by a medical condition, such as hypothyroidism.

They are not experienced only soon after traumatic events, such as the loss of a loved one, but last for several months. During this period, the patient shows excessive preoccupation with worthlessness, suicidal intentions, psychotic symptoms or psychomotor retardation.

Clinical depression can be diagnosed and treated only by a professional therapist.