Depression

goodtoknow says: Depression is a common illness and very treatable. It's not a sign of weakness and it's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, around 2 in 3 adults suffer from depression at some point in their life. Common symptoms of depression include weepiness, feeling useless, sleep problems and poor concentration. These feelings range in severity from mild, when you can still cope with normal life, to severe. But the good news is there are many effective treatments for depression including anti-depressants, counselling, exercise, and complementary therapies. There's no need to suffer in silence.

For a full medical explanation of the causes, symptoms and treatments of depression from patient.co.uk, read on.

Depression is common. Symptoms can affect day-to-day life and can become very distressing. Treatments include talking treatments and antidepressant medicines. Treatment takes time to work but has a good chance of success. Some people have recurring episodes of depression and require long-term treatment to keep symptoms away.

What is depression?

The word depressed is a common everyday word. People might say "I'm depressed" when in fact they mean "I'm fed up because I've had a row, or failed an exam, or lost my job" etc. These ups and downs of life are common and normal. Most people recover quite quickly.

With true depression, you have a low mood and other symptoms each day for at least two weeks. Symptoms can also become severe enough to interfere with day-to-day activities.

More on depression

- 10 ways to fight depression
- Who gets depression?
- Read in-depth information on SAD
- Tips on coping with depression