mental health

College can be long, lonely and isolating. Some students develop depression, which is passing, but if it lingers it can become more serious.

Major depression can be quite severe and rob those diagnosed with this debilitating mental illness of their ambition to live. Unlike passing bouts of depression related to daily occurrences or life events, major depression is persistent and can be accompanied by other mental disorders as well, such as anxiety, paranoia, mania, and suicidal tendencies. Major depression can occur at any age to anyone, gender and ethnicity aside. This mental illness can become so cumbersome that sufferers cannot even get out of bed at times or participate in any favorite leisure activities that they enjoyed in the past.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which you can visit online at www.nami.org, approximately 9.9 million adults are afflicted with this condition in any given year. Of all mental illnesses, major depression is the most debilitating and is the leading cause of disability in the United States and many other developed countries. More than twice as many women than men are affected, and if untreated episodes can last from six months to a year or more, and lead to more serious situations, such as suicide. One a major depressive episode has occurred, it is highly likely that another episode will occur within that person’s lifetime.

There are different types of treatments for major depression, which usually include prescription drug treatment and psychotherapy. Of course before treatment can begin, the person suffering from symptoms of major depression must seek help or be encouraged to do so by friends and family. Major depression doesn’t just happen over night. It may start from a significant life event or develop slowly over a period of time, and symptoms may be very subtle at first, and the more severe the symptoms, the longer it will take for treatment to be effective. The most common symptoms patients with major depression report are feeling tired, sad, tearful, irritable, lack of appetite, or thoughts of self-harm.

If you or a loved one is suffering from major depression, then seek help from a qualified professional that can initiate treatment and get you or your loved one back on the track of life, and back to being happy. No one wants to spend their life in a bucket of tears, and no one has to, not with all the great new drug therapies and treatments available for major depression. It is possible to live symptom free with the right treatment, not to say that a relapse will never occur, but it will greatly improve quality of life for those who might have never thought it possible.