Topic: Depression

	Symptoms and Common Causes
	What you don't know can hurt you!
	What can you do?
	Depression Kits

Depression

Symptoms

Trouble sleeping or excessive sleeping; a dramatic change in appetite, often with weight gain or loss; fatigue and lack of energy, feelings of worthlessness, self-hate, and inappropriate guilt; extreme difficulty concentrating, agitation, restlessness, and irritability, inactivity and withdrawal from usual activities; a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed including sex; feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and thoughts of death or suicide (Source: National Institute of Mental Health)

Common Causes:

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there is no single known cause of depression. Rather, it likely results from a combination of genetic, biochemical, environmental, and psychological factors. Many researchers believe that chemical imbalances in the brain, which may be hereditary or caused by events in a person's life, cause depression.

Some experts believe that people suffer from depression because of low levels of brain chemicals—serotonin, dopamine, and nor epinephrine—which act as messengers in the brain, called neurotransmitters. Neurons in the brain constantly produce, release, and reabsorb these brain chemicals. Antidepressants increase the levels of these neurotransmitters by blocking their reabsorption. However, it remains unknown whether low levels of neurotransmitters cause depression, or whether depression causes this imbalance in brain chemistry.

The most common treatments for depression are medication (antidepressants) and psychotherapy.