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When you are disappointed, your feelings get hurt, something terrible or upsetting happens, it's normal to feel moody, sad, down, or totally bummed out. When people feel this way they often say they are "depressed." But actual "depression" is something different.

If sad feelings last for two or more weeks, and you feel like you just can't get over them or "snap out of it," you may be suffering from depression.

What is depression?

Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way you eat and sleep, the way you feel about yourself, and the way you think about things. Depression is not a sign of weakness or a bad feeling that can be forced away. People with a depression can't just "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years.¹

For people with depression, these emotional and physical feelings seem to follow them day and night like a cloud. And happy events or good news don't seem to make it better.

Many doctors believe that depression is what leads to most of the suicides in the U.S. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people. Every day, 15 people aged 15 to 24 kill themselves. One of the best ways to prevent suicide is to detect and treat depression EARLY.

Who suffers from depression?

Lots of people do. In any 1-year period, 9.5 million Americans suffer from the disease.¹ Women suffer more often. Hormones can affect a woman's moods. The hormones at work during a woman's period, during pregnancy, right after childbirth, and during menopause (the time when older women stop menstruating), can contribute to the disease. One out of every four women and one out of every ten men will develop depression during their lifetime.

More than 80% of people who suffer from depression can be treated effectively. Nearly all people who receive appropriate treatment benefit from it. Unfortunately, many people don't understand that depression is an illness. They don't realize that anything can be done to make them feel better.

Recognizing the signs

Depression can be hard to recognize because its symptoms can be easily mistaken for just feeling sad. People tend to deny that depression is a disease by saying things like, "She has a right to be depressed. Look at what she's gone through!" The trouble with this attitude is that people can go through terrible things without ending up in depression. People who suffer from depression should seek treatment.

Health professionals use the following list of symptoms to help recognize depression. Keep in mind, depression must be diagnosed by a qualified doctor, therapist, or other healthcare provider. Seek professional help right away, if you or someone you know has had five or more of these symptoms for two or more weeks:

Symptoms of depression1

Persistently feeling sad and often helpless, hopeless, irritable (cranky) or angry
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities you usually enjoy
Noticeable change in appetite or body weight (either weight loss or gain) that's not due to dieting
Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
Loss of energy
Feeling guilty for no real reason or feeling worthless
Difficulty concentrating, thinking clearly, or making decisions
Frequent thoughts of death or suicide
Headaches, muscle aches, stomach aches or tiredness
Many absences from school or poor performance in school
Talking about or efforts to run away from home
Outbursts of shouting, complaining, or crying
Feeling bored all the time
Losing interest in friends
Alcohol or drug abuse
Feeling especially sensitive to rejection or failure
Reckless behavior

What to do

Depression can be very serious. It can cause pain and suffering not only for the people who have it, but for those who care about them. Much of this suffering is unnecessary, because help is available. There are many prescription drugs and treatments, such as talking to a therapist, that can ease the pain and make you feel better again.

If you think that you or someone you care about might have depression, take steps to save your own or someone else's life. Tell someone you love how you feel and get the help you deserve.

1] National Institute of Mental Health. Excerpted from a booklet that describes symptoms, causes, and treatments of depression.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm#ptdep3