Do You Think You Have Depression?






Do you have days where nothing can make you happy? You are not alone. I ignored my depressive thoughts about life for years. Unfortunately I didn't do anything to fix my situation until they became so dehabilitating that I had no choice.



Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. In a given year, an estimated 22.1% of Americans aged 18 and older (about 1 in 5 adults) suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. According to the 1998 United States Census population estimate, this figure translates to 44.3 million people! In addition, 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders, with major depression being the leading cause of disability.

It is estimated that depression alone will occur in approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the United States population aged 18 or above. If you are a woman, you are twice as likely than a man (12% vs. 6.6%) to be affected by depression each year.

My symptoms of depression started with an occasional case of the blahs. I was able to cope with them for a long time. I thought that since this happens to a lot of people, that it would pass and I didn't need to worry. I didn't think about finding out why it was happening. Besides, after a few drinks I always felt much better. I later learned that depressive disorders commonly occur with substance abuse...

So what is the cause of all of this sadness in our society? Speaking from experience, I wasn't happy with my life and the direction it was taking me. I would look back at a past week and not be able to recall one thing that I enjoyed. It was a blur. Nor would I look forward to the coming weeks ahead. All I saw were potential stresses that were going to present themselves. But I didn't do anything about it. I accepted that this was life. Looking back I don't know how I could have ever believed this.

When we are suffering from depression, it seems that we lose our objectivity. Does thinking that we have nothing to look forward to sound rational to you? Where did my enjoyment in life disappear to? It was my perception of the world that had slowly changed and I was unable to see it because of the control that my depression had over me.

In the fast pace of today's world we often don't allow ourselves time to evaluate our lives and set goals to realize our ambitions. Whether you do or do not have depression, you're reading this article because you think something might be wrong with your life. Have you tried to identify the things you are unhappy with? The first step for me was to educate myself and find out what it was that I was dealing with. I started reading books. I consulted a psychologist to get some unbiased insight about myself.

Otherwise, how do we find solutions for problems that we don't yet understand? So let's get started. What's stopping you?

David Smith is the writer for My Depression Help, a resource site where he describes his feelings and experiences with depression and provides the depression help treatment he used for his recovery. Read more about me and my depression experiences.

 Continue for more related information:
RELATED RESULTS:


 

Reclaiming Your Life From Anxiety Symptoms
Only somebody who has lived with anxiety ? as either a sufferer or a carer ? knows how devastating it can be. The affect c...

Anxiety and Depression Treatment - 5 Tips for Beating Depression
Everyone has days when they are down, worn out and just notfeeling all that happy. ...

Depression: Bringing Yourself Down
Sometimes it's hard to see the forest from the trees. Sometimes its hard to see how much you can bring your self down. Recently, my...

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Should be Used Early in Treatment when Traditional Antidepressants Fail
Lifetime Prevalence of Depression and the Age-of-Onset Report Distrib...

Neuromodulation Is Now The Mainstream Therapy For Chronic Depression
The cover of the March 7, 2005 issue of Business Week titled REWIRING THE HUMAN BODY, describes ...

Natural Remedies For Depression
It is true that forms of depression cannot be avoided, although, it has also been proved that a healthy life style can play a major r...

Raise Your Feeling Frequency with a Loving Smile
In every moment of our life we have the choice to think any thought we like. Sometimes we forget that we have the fr...

When Your Mind Develops A Mind Of Its Own
We've all been there? One minute your listening intently as your mother in law tells you for the tenth time about the peopl...

When Your Fears and Depression Have the Best of You
What do you do when your fears and depression are stronger thanwhat you can handle? There are times that no matte...

Tuning the Music Therapist
Music so strongly evokes emotional responses that it is being more frequently employed in the context of psychotherapy as a powerful heali...
Table of Contents | Article-Max Directory