What is Depression?

Depression is the black cloud hovering over your head all of a sudden, making you feel hopeless and filling you with negativity. You may seek ways to get out of depression, but how to deal with depression? What is the best medicine for depression and what is the best depression treatment? These questions often remain with the patient alone as they feel embarrassed to talk about it with others.

The best way to fight it is to understand how it works. This will help you identify the triggers which lead to depression and how you can avoid them.

Symptoms of Depression

Depression is a condition in which a person feels sad, blue, unhappy, or hopeless nearly every day and for no reason. A depressed person may be unable to enjoy once-pleasurable activities and often feels sluggish or tired.

You must have either a depressed mood or lack of interest and pleasure plus at least four of the following signs of depression.

Eating less than you need
Low self-worth
Worrying more than is normal for you
Problems with sleep
Withdrawing from others
Feeling tired all the time, like you have no energy. You may also feel constantly sad or have feelings of hopelessness.

To be diagnosed with depression, you must have either a depressed mood or loss of interest and pleasure plus four or more of these symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for at least 2 weeks.

Each symptom needs to be present for a significant portion of the day, nearly every day, for most of the 2 weeks. (You may be able to go to sleep and feel better in the morning, but still have symptoms almost every day.

Causes of Depression

Depression is a mental disorder when a person experiences extreme sadness and apathy to the point of not being able to function properly. Depression affects everyone differently, but some people suffering from depression may have similar feelings.

The causes of depression vary from person to person, but there are many common themes. The common causes of depression can be categorized broadly into 5 factors:

Abuse
Death or a loss
Traumatic events
Serious illness
Genetics

Depression has no "face" or "age." It can affect anyone regardless of age, race, gender, religion, culture or occupation. Sometimes depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, but it can also be caused by grief when someone you care about has died, divorce, death of a loved one, drug abuse or a physical illness such as cancer.

Myth: Depression can be treated with willpower.

Fact: Depression is a medical condition, not a character flaw.

Understanding depression and knowing what to do about it is important because of the impact it can have on you and those around you.

Depression may be your body's response to stressful life events that leaves you without coping skills. Your ability to cope with life's pressures can help prevent or reduce episodes of depression.

Regardless of the cause, depression is real and more than just simply feeling unhappy or down. Depression is common but it can be hard to talk about it. It may feel like a problem caused by someone or something else, or like you're a failure or a freak. Depression can cause a host of problems like poor sleep, weight changes, feeling tired all the time and not being able to focus.

There are many ways to overcome depression. Some have their own theories on how to overcome depression or how to come out of depression and others prefer using medication or therapy to get over their woes.

Some of the ways in which you can fight depression are given below:

Focus on yourself and be constructive towards your personal well-being.
Figure out what makes you happy and keep yourself busy by doing some fun activities to keep negative thoughts at bay.
Remember, this is just a phase and it will take time to move past this situation. This current scenario is absolutely temporary. Time heals everything.
Eat a balanced diet. As you might already know that a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body and so you need to focus on the right kind of diet. However, do not follow strict diets and reward yourself every weekend with some fun and non-monotonous food.
Listen to music and spend some time in nature. Studies suggest that people who started spending more time with nature saw an improvement in their mental health.
Talk to someone about how you feel. They might encourage you to fight with your inner devil. You can also seek help from a therapist or mental health counsellor if your depression becomes severe.

Beneficial Herbs to Fight Depression

Depression can be a difficult illness to manage, but there are some natural remedies that can help you cope with depression. Many people who suffer from depression choose to use herbal remedies rather than antidepressants.

Herbal remedies or herbs are plant-based products that are used for medicinal purposes. Herbs and plants have been in use for thousands of years and a few of these have been scientifically studied.

People who have tried all options they have and are still not able to fight depression can turn to herbal remedies, such as St. John's Wort, Kava Kava, Passionflower, etc. These herbs are very effective in fighting depression and as a result – people start feeling better.

Take Away

Herbs are natural substances that are used as food additives, food seasonings, traditional medicines, and for other purposes. Herbs are used for various purposes like bug repellents, soothing properties and perfume. Herbs are derived from plants, flowers, fruits or other parts of a plant. These herbs are available in different forms like leaves, roots, barks, bulbs, twigs, seeds, etc. Herbal medicines are quite effective in treating depression and related issues.