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Depression: Signs, Symptoms, Causes, Effects and Cure
Let’s try to understand what Exactly The Depression is. What are its Signs, Symptoms, Causes, Effects and finally how to Cure it.
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Depression- A deadly disease
Most of us often tend not to take depression seriously. We often brush it off as a cry for attention. However the truth is that it’s a much bigger problem which a many of our loved ones face today.
This problem has become so rampant that even many of the renowned personalities of past and past have suffered or are suffering from some form of depression in their lifetime.
From fairy tale writers Hans Christian Anderson to Harry Potter, author J.K Rowling and many other famous artists such as Van Gogh and Degas or even the eminent movie star of all times have battled depression.
There can be numerous reasons for it. But Excessive anxiety is one of the leading causes of Depression.
We talk a lot about Depression. But we often tend to overlook it or the factors behind. Depression is rather scary. Any person showing tendencies of it should immediately be given the proper guided care and support.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is the excessive/ strong amount of Fear, Panic, Apprehension or Worry. It interferes in our day-to-day life and activities. This often would end up in causing other life-threatening or harming diseases such as Depression, Eating Disorders, and Suicidal Tendencies to name some.
It is very important to understand the difference between an Anxiety Attack and a Panic Attack.
While anxiety attack occurs due to a stressful event and can cause an extreme amount of fear and apprehension and is usually short-lived, a panic attack can occur out of the blue, mainly without any obvious cause and can be unpredictable. The panic attack does not come in reaction to a stressor.
Anxiety symptoms
(Source: anxietycenter.com)
There are numerous symptoms of Anxiety. Some of the most common are Dizziness, High Palpitation Rate, Loss of Concentration, and Headache. Some other symptoms are Loss or Excess of Sleep, Rise or Fall in appetite, Loss of Energy, and Breathlessness.
These are the most common symptoms. But depending on the person experiencing an Anxiety Attack, there can be other symptoms as well.
Am I depressed?
So, how to know you have Depression. This can many a times be quite a difficult task? But here are some pointers that can help you out.
Taking a test or consulting the doctor would be the best solution to know if you’re depressed or not.
But it is also vital to notice the changes you’ve undergone. There are few very common signs of depression. These include Eating Disorder (Higher or Lower than usual appetite), Stomach Problems, Fatigue and Loss of Interest/ Concentration in everything.
Excessive consumption of Drugs; Alcohol or cigarettes, Hopelessness, and Helplessness, Anger, Sadness are some more signs of clinical depression.
Other well-known forms of Anxiety and Depression
The most common forms of diseases that fall under this category are Maniac Depression and Social Anxiety. But it is very important to understand what these two are.
Manic depression is also known as Bipolar Disorder. It consists of Extreme Fluctuation of Mood between Normal and Extreme Energetic State.
People with this may have continuous sleeplessness for a number of days and with Psychosis, Hallucinations and other forms of paranoia.
Social anxiety is a chronic health condition where people experience apprehension or fear while interacting with others.
This mainly happens due to extreme Self-Consciousness. It is with the apprehension of being negatively judged and evaluated by others. This automatically results in avoidance of people, including close relatives and friends.
Depression and anxiety at work
The occurrence of Depression and Anxiety at workplaces is a common scenario. It is seen at most of the offices today.
Failure to meet deadlines, Over-time and Excessive Work Load are some of the factors causing depression and anxiety at work.
The best way to deal with Stress and Anxiety at your workplace is by practicing Time Management, Having Realistic and Goals, Seeking Help when needed, Communicate Well with fellow colleagues, Avoiding Toxic People around you, Keeping a Positive and Healthy lifestyle etc.
These are some of the ways to help yourself to cope up and deal with depression, stress, and anxiety at your workplace.
Can depression and anxiety kill you?
Of course, it cannot directly kill you. But it can certainly lead to other diseases like Cancer or Ebola, which can be Life Threatening. Anxiety increases the chances of occurrence of these deadly diseases. It is one of the serious mental diseases that is left unnoticed or unattended by most of us.
Dealing with depression is quite hard and leaves you in a helpless situation and an external help you needed for this. If it isn’t dealt out properly, it can cause the person to have suicidal tendencies which are quite a serious problem.
Depression can make people think that ending their life is the only way to end this misery.
Ways to Cure Depression
There are numerous ways you can deal and cure this disease. In most of these methods to cure it, Self Willingness and Effort are of prime importance.
Depression and Anxiety Exercises
These are some of the best ways to cure Depression.
a) Do the things you love the most. Dancing, Singing, Cooking your favorite food etc. is said to have helped people tackle Stress, Anxiety, and Depression.
b) Provide Time and Love to Self. We always tend to miss out to take care of ourselves in between all these busy schedules. But it is essential to provide yourself with some Love, Attention, and Care.
c) Try hitting the gym. This may be one the best ways to de-channelize your Depression and channelize it into something more productive.
d) Gain more social relationships. This helps eliminate the feeling of being lonely. But remember to surround yourself with people with positive vibes.
e) Keep yourself healthy. Instead of munching on the junkies, try taking a well-balanced meal to keep yourself in good shape.
Depression and Anxiety Therapy
As discussed earlier, Anxiety and Depression are very much curable, provided you adopt the right process seek the right help.
There are numerous Depression and Anxiety therapies that you can take help of. There are Therapists, Psychologists and psychiatrists to help and guide you overcome Depression and Anxiety.
Depression and Anxiety Healing Therapist uses the route of Healing Therapies. Wherein the patient is made to sit and relax in a comfortable setting and is helped to vent out their feelings to the Therapist.
In most of these Therapies, Therapists tries to use the Power of Subconscious Mind. They work on the philosophy that answer to most of our problems is with-in us.
They believe that these answers are stored in our Subconscious, which accounts for 90 percent of our Mind. So during the Therapy they channelize these answers from our Subconscious to Conscious Mind, so that we become aware of problem and its solutions our-selves.
No medicines are given or recommended by a Healing Therapist. Since they believe that these medicines can have lot of Harmful Side-effects. This belief comes from the fact that most of the medicines given to cure Depression and Anxiety are addictive in nature.
Thus, let’s not prejudge or be prejudiced about this common mental issue. It is high time we provide them with regard and let’s have a proper understanding about this and educate ourselves about depression and other mental disorders.
We owe it to our family, friends and acquaintances to be a supportive and good listener and help them find a way out of the black hole.