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Depression
Definition
Depression Definition
Depression is a medical illness that involves feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or frustration for an extended period of time. Depression can cause variety of emotional and physical troubles. You may have trouble doing normal everyday activities, and depression may make you feel as if life is not worth living.
Depression is not a weakness, nor is it something that you can simply "snap out" of. Depression is a chronic illness that typically needs long-term treatment. Majority of people with depression feel better with adequate medication, psychological counseling, excercising or other treatment.
• Clinical depression is one of the most common mental illnesses, affecting more than 19 million Americans each year.This includes major depressive disorder, manic depression and dysthymia, a milder, longer-lasting form of depression.
• Depression causes people to lose pleasure from daily life, can complicate other medical conditions, and can even be serious enough to lead to suicide.
• Depression can occur to anyone, at any age, and to people of any race or ethnic group. Depression is never a "normal" part of life, no matter what your age, gender or health situation.
• Unfortunately, although about 70% of individuals with depression have a full remission of the disorder with effective treatment, fewer than half of those suffering from this illness seek treatment. Too many people resist treatment because they believe depression isn't serious, that they can treat it themselves or that it is a personal weakness rather than a serious medical illness.
Latest Depression News
People Reluctant to Talk Depression with Doctor Likely Depressed
People who are reluctant to talk to the doctor are depressed says new study by the journal, Annals of Family Medicine. They are more likely to be on medication without their doctor being aware of it, the study claims.more
09 13, 2011
Supermoms Found to Be More Depressed
Study finds that working moms have lower rates of depression compared to stay-at-home moms, but moms that try to become supermom balancing both work and home tend to be more depressed.more
08 24, 2011
Patients who take antidepressants are more likely to experience relapses of major depression, researchers finds.
Patients who use anti-depressants are much more likely to suffer relapses of major depression than those who use no medication at all, concludes a McMaster researcher.more
07 19, 2011
Positive teens become healthier adults
Remain positive to become healthier adults says a Northwestern University study.more
07 19, 2011
New tool aims to improve measurement of primary care depression outcomes
Primary care doctors have long been on the front lines of depression treatment. Depression is listed as a diagnosis for 1 in 10 office visits and primary care doctors prescribe more than half of all antidepressants.more
05 25, 2011
Pitt researchers build a better mouse model to study depression
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed a mouse model of major depressive disorder (MDD) that is based on a rare genetic mutation that appears to cause MDD in the majority of people who inherit it.more
05 19, 2011
Researchers identify DNA region linked to depression
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and King's College London have independently identified DNA on chromosome 3 that appears to be related to depression.more
05 16, 2011
Wayne State researchers find new way to examine major depressive disorder in children
A landmark study by scientists at Wayne State University published in the May 6, 2011, issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the most prestigious journal in the field, has revealed a new way to distinguish children with major depressive disorder (MDD) from not only normal children,...more
05 11, 2011
Depression associated with poor medication adherence in patients with chronic illnesses
People who are depressed are less likely to adhere to medications for their chronic health problems than patients who are not depressed, putting them at increased risk of poor health, according to a new RAND Corporation study.more
05 11, 2011
Successful depression treatment of mothers has long-term effects on offspring
Children whose mothers are successfully treated for depression show progressive and marked improvement in their own behaviors even a year after their moms discontinue treatment, new UT Southwestern Medical Center-led research shows.more
05 10, 2011
