Depression, also termed as the major depressive disorder, is a condition that adversely affects a person’s mental health. While suffering from it, a person experiences tremendous despair and sadness, which can lead them to live in isolation. This disorder has effects on the thinking, functioning, and feeling processes of a human being.

Depression is alarming because of its continuous interference in the life of the patient. They become stupendously self-critical and their self-esteem often breaks down to a drastic level.

At times, it gets really tough for a patient to come out of depression. A long-term treatment can be an essential need for a patient with depression. It generally occurs in several episodes in different phases of life.

In the country, the National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that out of 16.1 million adults who have experienced at least one episode of depression in 2015. However, women can be more prone to develop this disease than men. Due to such a high percentage of patients, this can be surely termed as one of the common mental diseases.

Causes of depression
Doctors don’t really know the exact reasons for a person suffering from depression. Nevertheless, this is a common trait for most mental disorders. Some scientists say that this disorder may occur due to various emotional, biological, and environmental factors.

• The primary reason may the death of a loved one. Emotional abnormality can be one obvious thing to happen to a person in such a state, leading to depression.
• Various anomalies with the chemicals of the brain can make a person depressed. Still, a lot of doctors think that childhood traumas, job loss, immense sadness due to financial breakdown, and a divorce can give rise to depression. This happens due to the abrupt changes in the function of the neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that play a vital role in the rise of a mental illness.
• Several medical conditions can also give way to this disease. Mostly, cancer, heart disease, persistent pain, and hypothyroidism can cause this disease.
• A regular consumption of various kinds of sedatives and medicines of hypertension can cause depression.
• Hormonal changes in the body can also be a cause. Postpartum depression and menopause can be a trigger more commonly in women.
• Several inherited traits can make a person more exposed to developing depression. Family history and occurrence in blood relatives are some cases where a patient can have a higher chance to develop it.
• Risk factors are diverse in the case of this disease. Some of the main risk factors are being pessimistic, having experienced mental and sexual abuse, mental and anxiety disorder, no support toward unconventional sexual development or orientations, substance abuse, and chronic illness.

Symptoms of depression
There are multiple symptoms which are different in the case of children, teens, and adults.

• In the case of children, the symptoms may be clinginess, sadness, worry, and reluctance towards going to school.
• Teens can exhibit some other symptoms like feeling pessimistic and angry, developing a low self-esteem, going into isolation, and getting addicted to alcohol and narcotic substances.
• Adults may experience symptoms like physical pains, memory loss, fatigue, appetite loss, lost libido, and suicidal feelings.
• Some common symptoms of depression are sadness, anger, frustration, tiredness and slow thinking.

Treatment for depression
This disease can be treated mainly with a combination of medications and anti-depression therapies.

• Psychotherapy can prove to be massively beneficial for a depression patient.
• Support is the keyword of treatment for a patient. Prolonged treatments can help a patient of depression to live a quality life.