Our awareness week!!

What causes depression?

Most people assume that depression is simply caused by recent personal difficulties.
However, depression is often caused by the mix of recent events and other personal factors.
Research indicates that recent life stressors are not as important as chronic difficulties such as long-term unemployment or living in an abusive or uncaring marriage.
Depression and anxiety can run in families. Some people will be at increased genetic risk. However, such genetic effects do not mean that you will automatically experience depression if a parent or close relative has had the illness. The circumstances of your life are still likely to have a big effect on your chances of becoming ill.

What are the different types of depression?

Different types of depression often have somewhat different symptoms and may require different treatments.
Different types of depression include:
Psychotic depression - a severe form of depression associated with hallucinations (e.g. voices telling the person to die) or delusions (e.g. extreme or false beliefs of guilt, shame, poverty or ill-health);
Melancholia - a severe form of depression often associated with mental and physical slowing and severe disruption of sleep, appetite and concentration;
Major depression - a persistently depressed mood for at least two weeks that is associated with loss of pleasure in most activities, and results in loss of personal, social and work function;
Dysthymia - chronically low mood often extending over some years and resulting in persistent loss of work and social function;
Mixed depression and anxiety - the most common form of low mood seen in association with many physical health problems and common social stressors; and,
Bipolar disorder (formally known as manic depressive illness) - depression as part of a more severe illness associated with both high and low periods of mood. This can vary from mild to very severe. Bipolar disorder is frequently misdiagnosed as conditions such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia and unipolar depression. In many instances, it has taken 10-15 years before a correct diagnosis has been obtained for patients with bipolar disorder, leaving them untreated or being incorrectly treated.