Dealing with Depression by Jacob Cherian

One might think that in an era characterized by the prevalence of epidemics such as AIDS and other emerging chronic health issues such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer that mental illness plays a lesser role among today's population.

On the contrary, many health experts estimate depression to be the rising illness among the working middle class. In fact, it is safe to say that already millions have been affected worldwide, particularly in the U.S. - the largest economy in the world. Social factors like meeting deadlines in a competitive work place, or even the threat of job cuts, outsourcing, and downsizing of companies are enough to take a toll on the average employee. Combined with that there are up and-coming issues that are unique to this generation like balancing family and finances, rising statistics on divorce, single parenting, discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation are among a plethora of unique concerns facing today's young adults.

Philosophically speaking, it is generally held that everyone goes through ups and downs at some stage in their lives. This could be associated to a personal milestone in one's life: for instance, marriage, transitioning careers, etc. However, at times a person can withdraw totally from the community or daily activities. To put this in another way, a person may feel "blue" about everything in his or her life, leading to apathy towards life in general. And personal issues, environmental and genetic factors, physiological abnormalities, brain chemistry can bring this about, and also social issues like the ones we looked at earlier.

Regardless of what the cause, when individuals shy away from normal day-to-day activities they once enjoyed and recoil into withdrawal, the condition then gradually or sometimes abruptly manifests itself as clinical or general depression. This is the stage when the person needs to seek help. The feelings associated with depression may vary from spending long hours alone inside one's home, loss of appetite, inability to concentrate, loss of self-esteem, lack of personal hygiene to contemplating suicide.

Clinical depression affects at least 16% of the population at least once in their lives. The average age of onset is in the 20s. Approximately twice as many women report or receive treatment for clinical depression as men. Clinical depression is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. as well as other countries. It is expected to be the second-most common cause of disability after heart disease in the rest of the world by 2010, according to the World Health Organization.

Unfortunately, when the condition is diagnosed in medical terms, it sometimes leaves the individual even more alienated, lacking in confidence and unable to cope with a stereotype that is often not talked about in many cultures. And this is true across the spectrum for a wide gamut of illnesses classified under mental illness.

Perhaps, some of the labeling comes from the fact that visits to a psychiatrist is perceived as taboo, particularly in Eastern cultures. Initially, the patient may be overwhelmed with the diagnosis. At the same time, the psychiatrist may have to experiment with various drugs to come up with one that actually works. Each drug could take two to three weeks to turn out results. At this time, the psychiatrist looks into patient history, intensity, and classification of the depressive episode to prescribe the best mode of treatment.

The number one way to prevent depression is Self-care, especially in today's fast pace rat race.

Some patients may only require psychotherapy and counseling to change perceptions and modify faulty behaviors to make them more suited to everyday life in the community. Others may need a wide repertoire of drugs along with psychotherapy to get them up and about. A third mode of treatment is electro convulsive therapy (ECT), which may be used when drugs fail. Other treatments utilized for depression are exercise and the use of vitamins, herbs, or other nutritional supplements.

The benefits of treatment usually depends on criteria such as the amount of optimism and hope the patient is able to maintain, the control one has over stressors, the seriousness of the symptoms, the duration of depression in the patient, the results from previous treatments, and also the level of support from family, friends, and significant others.

In case of emergency, psychiatric hospitalization is used to keep suicidal patients safe, until they are no longer seen as a threat to themselves. Another consideration may be partial hospitalization, which involves the patient sleeping at home and spends daytime, either five or seven days a week, in a psychiatric hospital environment in intense treatment. This kind of treatment generally includes group therapy, individual therapy, psychopharmacology, and academics (in child and adolescent programs).

A major cause of relapse is failure to take medication or take it as prescribed. If the patient feels that discontinuation of medication is necessary, it should be done with the consultation of the doctor.

Meditation is also viewed as an effective treatment for depression. The current status on meditation is that it is a useful, complementary tool treatment for depression. This view has been clearly underscored by the Mayo Clinic. Since 1990s, lots of research has been done to see if meditation affects the brain. The effects on the mind are complex. However, they are thought to be positive. Encouraging a calm, reflective and rational state of mind can help depression a great deal. Many religions include meditative practices. However, it is not necessary to be a member of any one faith to meditate.