Depression refers to the most common mental illnesses. Approximately 10—15% of people become victims of depression at some period of their life. Depression is generally accompanied by irritability, inability to concentrate, feelings of guilt and helplessness, absence of appetite, anxiety, problems with sleep, lack of energy and headaches.
There are several types of depression.
For instance, major depression. This is the most common type. It has the symptoms mentioned above. But there are no such cases when a person has all of the symptoms. They differ from person to person. Usually the person looses interest in most activities. They usually begin to feel that they are unable to overcome this current state and will never become happy again. And such thoughts, of course, only worsen depression.
Atypical depression is a bit different from the previous type. People with atypical depression do not have a constant feeling of being depressed. There are some periods when they experience happiness. People usually think that their mood is dependent on the external circumstances such as praise, attention, success.
Psychotic depression is characterized by visual and/or auditory hallucinations. Thus, a person hears or sees some scaring, negative sounds and images that no one can perceive.
When a person suffers from dysthymia, he or she does not even know they have depression. For such people the state of being sad and depressed is their natural state. This feeling accompanies them throughout the entire life.
During or after pregnancy many women suffer from perinatal depression. It can be at times difficult to detect for there are a lot of changes that women’s bodies undergo during and after pregnancy.
There is also manic depression. We can describe it as an emotional ailment that results in mood shifts from depression to mania. Every sufferer has his own pattern of mood swings.
