Depression

Depression can cause severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. It is an illness that can affect anyone.

What is depression?

Everyone feels sad or low sometimes, but these feelings usually pass with a little time. Depression is different. It can cause severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. It is an illness that can affect anyone—regardless of age, race, income, culture, or education. Depression can happen at any age, and it is now recognized as occurring in children and adolescents, although it sometimes presents with more prominent irritability than low mood. Many chronic mood and anxiety disorders in adults begin as high levels of anxiety in children.

Two common forms of depression are:

  • Major depression, which includes symptoms of depression most of the time for atleast 2 weeks that typically interfere with one’s ability to work, sleep, study, and eat.
  • Persistent depressive disorder, which often includes less severe symptoms of depression that last much longer, typically for at least 2 years.

 

Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms

Not everyone who is depressed experiences every symptom. Some people experience only a few symptoms while others may experience many. The severity and frequency of symptoms and how long they last will vary depending on the individual.

Information sourced with permission from the National Institute of Mental Health https:///www.nimh.nih.gov/