Depression, also called Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), is a serious mental illness that has negative impacts on a person’s health and behaviour regarding the way they work, feel, judge, and look at the world. Unfortunately, it has now become quite common around the world. According to the studies done by the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly two hundred eighty million people are suffering from depression. In Australia, one out of seven people has depression.
When a person starts to have depression, their behaviour begins to change as they start to lose interest in all the activities that they used to love. In the past, discussing depression was often taboo, treated as a forbidden topic where individuals felt they couldn’t openly share their mental health struggles. This silence only worsened the situation, leaving those suffering from depression feeling isolated and unsupported.
But the times have changed, and in 2024, people are encouraged to talk about their mental health and depression. When a person is having depression, it does not just affect him or her; it impacts everyone else around that person, including family, friends, and other people. Here, we will discuss various stages and key causes of depression, along with the signs and symptoms that will help you recognize this mental disorder and effective ways to win the battle against depression.
“You say you're ‘depressed’ - all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn't mean you're defective - it just means you're human.”- David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Stages Of Depression
People nowadays are having trouble understanding whether they are suffering from sadness or depression. Many of them consider their short-term sorrow a form of depression. There are different types of depression that can be categorised as stages. Depression has mainly five main stages, and below you will find all the information about it.
Stage I: Mild Depression
This stage is called dysthymia, or persistent depressive disorder (PDD). In this, a person starts to suffer from feeling low and having a bad mood for a long period of time. Mild depression can cause a person to become sad and irritated most of the time. It can affect a person’s sleep schedule, energy levels, and appetite. This also has an impact on the relationships they have with their friends and family. If not treated, it can last for more than two years.
Stage II: Moderate Depression
When the depression goes into stage two, the symptoms get even more intense. The person starts to feel a much deeper level of sadness and starts to completely lose all hope in life. When a person is suffering from moderate depression, they find it extremely difficult to manage their daily work life. This depression can increase or decrease a person’s appetite. It can also become the reason for some other mental health diseases, like insomnia or hypersomnia. However, it can be treated with psychotherapy and medication.
Stage III: Severe Depression
Severe depression is a serious stage of depression. When a person is suffering from severe depression, they experience overwhelming feelings of sorrow, nothingness, desperation, and misery. This has a huge effect on physical health, such as always having the feeling of low energy, tiredness, loss or gain in weight, changes in appetite, and disturbances in sleep. The person either becomes restless or the movements of their body become quite slow. One of the worst symptoms of this depression is that the person starts to have suicidal thoughts like they are better off dead and no one in the world needs them. Those people need to seek help and be involved in psychotherapy sessions.
Stage IV: Recurrent Depression
There are people who continuously experience depression throughout their lives. It is a severe case where people, from time to time, go through various attacks of depression. Recurrent depression causes trouble in a person’s daily life and can also harm relationships with friends and family. This condition can last for years and can have intense durations. It can also increase the risk of suicide, as the person suffering from recurrent depression starts to have various negative thoughts and believes that their life is pointless and has no meaning. Treatment for these people can be challenging. However, it will take some time, but they can be cured by taking psychotherapy, antidepressants, and medications.
Stage V: Treatment-Resistant Depression
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is quite a dangerous stage of depression as a person does not respond to the therapy and medications. This case becomes extremely serious when a strong dose of antidepressant pills does not have an effect on the patient. When the treatments do not work then the person keeps on suffering from the problem, and this leads to an increasing risk of suicide. To prevent the patient from harming themselves, doctors start to use advanced treatments like electroconvulsive therapy or new techniques like deep brain stimulation. It is important that the patient get love and support from friends and family during difficult times of treatment. This will help them to go through the procedure.
Reasons For Depression
There are multiple things that can become the reasons for a person to be depressed. This mental illness does not depend on any age group. Everyone, from adults to little kids, can suffer from depression. Below, you will see some of the most common factors that cause depression.
1. Imbalance In Brain Chemicals
Experts believe that the main reason for depression is when there is a chemical imbalance in the brain. The monoamine neurotransmitter in the brain named 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is also known as serotonin. This chemical is responsible for regulating a person’s mood. When serotonin levels get low, it causes the person to be depressed. It may sound easy, but it actually takes millions, or even billions, of brain chemicals for a person to feel depressed. This also makes the person feel worthless and causes the individual to lose interest in all the fun activities.
2. Genetics
Genetics also plays a big role in a person’s mental health. Depression is an illness that is quite heritable in families. When a close member of a family, like parents, is suffering from depression, then the chances of kids having depression are pretty high. When an individual is surrounded by a toxic environment, it can increase depression like fuel on fire. If a person faces any trauma, loss, or stress while growing up, then they are likely to develop depression.
3. Events And Emotional Health
Every person, at some point in their life, experiences events that can leave them traumatised and can have a really bad effect on the brain. These traumatic experiences can include physical abuse, domestic violence, bullying, serious illness, and the loss of a loved one. All of these things can mentally scare your brain and lead to depression. When a person faces an event like this, they feel completely helpless and frustrated, as they have no control over these things.
4. Certain Medical Conditions
There are some serious illnesses like cancer, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis, heart disease, and many more. When a person is diagnosed with such a disease, it also has a huge effect on their mental health. Other than the person, the remaining members of the family also start to suffer from tension and pain. There are some other medical conditions where a person is forced to take medicines for the rest of their life. These medical conditions can become a reason for depression.
5. Use Of Certain Medicines
It does not matter whether the person is taking drugs that are legal or illegal; believing that doing this might help in resolving the problem of their depression is a big mistake. In reality, taking drugs will only worsen the situation rather than improve it. One of the worst things about drugs is that people often get addicted to them pretty easily, and using them for a long time can damage the senses of their brains. Drugs can even destroy relationships with friends and family.a
The Warning Symptoms Of Depression
It is very important for a person to know about the symptoms of depression so that they can seek help from the doctor and start treatment before it gets severe or becomes untreatable. Underneath, you will see both the physical and psychological symptoms of depression:
Physical Symptoms
- There will be a change in a person’s hunger; either they will always feel the need to eat something or they won’t feel the need to eat at all. This will also become the reason for gaining or losing weight.
- A person will always feel tired and lack the energy to do any work. Even after having a proper night’s sleep and resting for hours, there will always be fatigue.
- Depression can lead a person to have insomnia, which will cause trouble sleeping or staying asleep. It can also make a person have hypersomnia, which leads them to sleep in excess.
- There will be constant pain in body, such as headaches or muscle pain. A person can also have digestive issues.
Psychological Symptoms
- Depression makes a person feel down and sad all the time. Even without any reason, a person will feel unhappy and irritated.
- A person will start to lose all interest in doing those activities that they used to enjoy at some point in time. They will abandon their hobbies and will hate socialising with other people.
- It will affect the concentrating power, which will eventually make it hard to make decisions. Depression can also affect memory, and the individual will have problems remembering things.
- When a person suffers from depression, they are constantly haunted by negative thoughts. This makes them feel like a loser, and they will start to look at their lives as meaningless. They will experience suicidal thoughts.
Techniques For Conquering Depression
Depression is a serious mental illness. It is best to seek a doctor’s advice and get involved in therapy. However, there are some techniques that a person who is suffering from depression must try out to win the battle against depression. Here are a few easy points that you can apply to conquer depression and live a healthy and stress-free life.
1. Keep Yourself Occupied
The first thing a person can do is to keep themselves occupied. This gives a person less time to overthink, and so it automatically blocks all the negative thoughts. This also gives you a goal or a purpose that you have to achieve. However, it is also very important that you do not overdo it, as it will only end up with you getting exhausted. It is important to take short breaks from time to time, as it will enhance your concentration and make you become more efficient with your work.
2. Set Short And Realistic Goals
One of the biggest mistakes a person makes is setting unrealistic goals. Even if the person is really ambitious and has a strong desire to achieve their goal, setting an impossible task will eventually end up in failure. Once a person fails to achieve their mission, they start to feel like a loser, and this feeling begins to take the form of depression. Sure, it is important to have goals, but while a person is setting a goal, they should make sure that it is realistic. When the person is able to achieve the goal, they will feel motivated and happy.
3. Involve in Exercise
Getting involved in exercise is a proven way to reduce levels of stress and depression. When a person starts to exercise, it releases a hormone called endorphins. This can help in improving the mood, getting rid of pain, managing stress levels, and increasing the sense of well-being. Exercise regularly is also beneficial for your physical health as it keeps you in great shape, which eventually helps in enhancing self-confidence. Engaging in regular exercise can lead to fatigue, which in turn can help a person fall asleep more easily.
4. Eating Healthy
There’s an old saying, “What you eat is what you become,” and several researchers have found that there is a direct connection between a person’s mood and food. Some foods have the quality to decrease depression, like nuts, beans, dark chocolate, yoghurt, and many more. These food items have lots of protein, vitamins, and other essential nutrients that help in improving mood and increase brain functionality. They also support maintaining blood sugar levels, which prevents you from feeling tired. Always avoid eating unhealthy fats and refined sugar foods, as they will have a negative impact on your energy levels and mood.
5. Learning New Skills
When you get stuck in your daily routine and have to do the same things over and over again, this makes life dull and eventually results in losing all interest in participating in activities. To avoid this, a person should take some time out of their life to learn a new skill. It can be anything from painting, playing an instrument, sketching, or even fighting skills like martial arts. Doing this keeps them engaged in activities and stops them from having negative thoughts. Other than that, mastering a new skill will not only be useful for a person’s life but can also give a sense of accomplishment.
Grief vs. Depression (What’s The Difference?)
Grief and depression are extreme emotions, and many people often get mistaken for differentiating these two. Below, you will see some key differences between them that will help you understand whether you are in grief or suffering from depression.
Grief
- Cause: Grief is caused by any kind of loss, such as the loss of a loved one, losing a job, failure in business, and many other reasons.
- Period: It can decrease with time as the person starts to adjust accordingly to the loss.
- Nature: A person experiencing grief goes through emotions like sadness, anger, guilt, and denial.
- Signs: Some of the most common signs are craving for the person or thing that is lost, having difficulties in accepting reality, and weeping.
Depression
- Cause: There are various reasons for depression, like trauma, lots of stress, genetics, hopelessness, and chemical imbalances in the brain.
- Period: Depression can last for a very long time. Sometimes, a person can feel depressed for weeks, months, or years. It can also get worse if not treated.
- Nature: A person constantly feels sad and has a sense of emptiness. They lose all interest in activities that were once loved by them.
- Signs: The signs of depression are a ruined sleeping schedule, a constant sense of worthlessness, trouble concentrating, and suicidal thoughts.
Final Thoughts
In today’s world, there are so many people suffering from depression. It is important for every person to understand how depression can impact a person’s health, relationships, work, and social life. Here you have learned about the different stages of depression, the things that can cause a person to be depressed, the warning signs of depression, and a few proven techniques to win the battle against depression. Spreading awareness about it and showing affection and support towards the people who are suffering from this dangerous mental disorder is crucial. Together, we can work to build a society that prioritises mental well-being.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are multiple things that can become the root cause of depression, like some traumatic experiences that happened in the past, living in a stressful environment, financial problems, a lack of support from friends and family, physical health problems, and the use of substances like drugs and alcohol.
Depression can have a major effect on a person’s daily life, as it causes them to feel sad all the time. There will be constant tearfulness in their eyes, even with a smiling face. They will feel completely empty, lost, and hopeless on the inside. Their mood will always be irritated and frustrated, and they can even have angry outbursts, even over small things. A person suffering from depression loses joy and pleasure in doing the things that he or she used to love. Depression can also become the cause of insomnia, which disturbs a person’s sleep cycle.
Most mental health disorders, including depression, have four common elements. Deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger—these four are called the 4 D’s. A behaviour in which a person acts differently than normal is called deviance. When a person is having anxiety and pain, they are in distress. Dysfunction is a problem when a person is not able to work properly. Lastly, danger is when a person becomes a threat to themselves.
A person who is suffering from depression often feels alone, even when they are surrounded by a group of people. The person can find it hard to enjoy the little things the way they used to enjoy them before. Depression has a huge impact on a person’s way of thinking about themselves. They become distant from the people they were once close to and comfortable with. Other than these, they really have a hard time concentrating on things, have trouble remembering stuff, and have extreme difficulty making decisions.
Even though depression is a mental illness, it has a big effect on the physical health of a person. It can become the reason for gaining or losing weight. Many people tend to get involved in harmful activities like smoking, drinking alcohol, and doing drugs, which directly cause damage to their bodies. Using these substances for a long time can cause diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
When a person starts to think about ending his or her life by committing suicide, it means that the person has reached the strongest stage of depression. Other than having suicidal thoughts, that person can even try to harm themselves.
Depression can be cured with proper treatment and medication. A person starts to feel better within a few days or weeks. If the depression is not being treated, then it can last for more than a few months or years.
