Once in a while, events in our lives disappoint us and make us sad. having a bad day could lead one to say ”I am so depressed.” People would say that depression feels like a black curtain of despair coming down over their lives. Although feeling depressed once in our lives is normal, chronic depression appears among people who are not able to recover from the normal cycle of distress. These are people who are not able to deal with stress.
Depression is not just a state of mind but it is also related to physical changes in the brain. It is said that depression could be caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters that carry signals in the brain and nerves. Excess activity of the stress response system drives emotional centers of the brain into overdrive so that negative events make a disproportionate impact and hijack rational response systems. It makes an individual to cannot clearly think. It makes one ponder over and over about the difficulties and disappointments one until that’s all one can focus on. The individual’s genes and environment can be both a caused of depression. To some people, depression is hereditary. They are inclined to be depressed even when faced with very minimal stress because it may be inherited. On the other hand, there are people who are not able to adjust to certain changes in their lives, like losing a loved one, or even when after getting married, get depressed. These people may not have inherited depression but they are still prone to get depressed when they are not able to recover from their gloomy moments. Moreover, a pessimistic personality characterized by a low self-esteem, and a negative outlook are at higher risk of becoming depressed. It is mentioned previously that being depressed is quite normal but this depression only goes for a short time. When depression prolongs, it could lead to other psychological disorders.
When one is depressed, one may feel hopeless and sad. You always find displeasure in the things that you do. Others either lose or gain weight because of changes in appetite. Some may not be able to sleep well at night while some would experience excessive sleep
