Depression Help:
Depression Information

I recommend first gathering depression information before even thinking about fighting depression. Learn the subject well, before you do something about it. Focus smartly on your fight against depression.

There are many misconceptions about depression that can lead people to take the wrong path, or worse, to never find a cure. Lets look at some of these depression myths.

Depression Myths

There are many misconceptions about depression, and if we fight depression based on a misconception, we are fighting the wrong battle.

This depression information article seeks to educate the reader on the misconceptions about depression. Here are a few myths about depression:

• Depression Means Sadness. The myth that depressed people are constantly sad. Fact. Although sadness can manifest itself in depression, research has shown that many depressive patients do not report any sadness. The root of depression is the experience of fatigue. Sadness, and irritability are symptoms that show when a person is fatigued. (Editor's note: Personally, for many years during my depression I never really felt especially sad. However, I was considerably fatigued and irritable).
• Medication Will Cure Depression. The myth that antidepressants will cure depression. Fact. Antidepressants and other medication are not the cure for depression. These products merely change your body's chemistry to counteract the true causes of depression. The purpose and effect of antidepressants are to reduce the symptoms of depression enough so that therapy can help you change your ability to cope with the way you think and feel about life. The use of antidepressants is not an exact science. Antidepressants take weeks to have a noticeable effect on depression, and often to no avail. When it is obvious that a particular medication has no effect, doctors continue switching antidepressants until the right product and dose can be found. This process can take months and even years.
• Will Power Can Cure Depression. The myth that a depressed person only needs to think more positively, and eventually they'll snap out of it. Fact. Will power alone does not cure depression. Even after positive self affirmations, a depressed person will likely continue to experience a lack of enjoyment in their life.
• Once Depressed, Always Depressed. The myth that depression is not curable and will last a lifetime. Fact. People can, and have returned to normal, healthy lives after depression. Depression does have a tendency to reoccur. However, studies have proven that depression is treatable and can be eradicated forever following the right lifestyle and habits.

What Is Depression?

The definition of depression is when a person either has a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities consistently for at least a two-week period.

This mood must represent a change from the person's normal mood and impair his functioning in his daily life.

Depression Information Note: A depressed mood caused by substances such as drugs, alcohol, medications, or a general medical condition is not considered a major depressive disorder.

Hormone Changes And Depression. Depression is believed to be associated with changes to levels of hormone neurotransmitters in the brain such as Serotonin, commonly referred to the happy hormone.

These hormones regulate the sense of well being, moods, tempers and even sleep--a very important ingredient for depression self help.

Consequently these hormones also greatly influence depression and anxiety.

The changes in hormone levels give us important clues in the quest for depression help information and how to treat depression.

A person who has low mood, is sad, and/or going through normal grief because of personal loss, will normally have changes in their hormone levels.

Hormone levels change when we cry or are serene, when we experience stress, happiness, sadness or laughter. Our hormones change even when we eat, which is why we often feel sleepy after a meal.

For a depressed person it hardly makes sense to treat the chemical levels in our bodies, when a person’s thinking pattern is the cause of the imbalance.

We would be taking medication to produce more "happy hormones" in our brains, however, this would not work when our thinking pattern does not let us see anything to be happy about.

Medication merely disrupts the body's natural ability to produce hormones when we really need them.

Instead of medication, we need to take a step further and start disrupting and changing our depression thinking pattern as well as our physiology patterns (what we do with our bodies). That is the beginning of the process for depression self help.

A depressed person has a lack of capacity to bounce back, like a rubber band that's stretched too far and loses its elasticity.

This lack of resilience is due to “learned behavior.” In this website you will learn to disrupt the learned behavior, and behave differently, physically and mentally.

In the next section of depression information we'll continue to discuss the signs and causes of depression.

Go to the next depression information section, signs of depression, and read on...



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