All of us experience many of the symptoms of depression at times in life, but for a diagnosis of depression, symptoms must last for 2 weeks or longer, for most of every day. The two most commonly experienced symptoms of major depression are:
- Feeling sad, or down for most of every day for two weeks or longer
- An inability to feel pleasure from previously enjoyable activities
Other symptoms include:
- Fatigue or lethargy
- Insomnia or oversleeping
- Irritability
- Frequent weeping or crying
- Low self esteem or self confidence
- An inability to make decisions, or concentrate
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Unexplained guilt
- Changes in eating habits and weight
- Headaches, stomachaches without cause or reason
- Social isolation
- Suicidal ideation
- Others
Few people will experience all of these symptoms.
Who Gets Depression?
Depression can affect children, teens, young and older adults and seniors. The most common period of onset ranges from 18 to 45 years of age, with a median age of 32. Women are about twice as likely as men to experience depression, although this statistic may reflect a male reluctance to admit to emotional problems. Although men are less often diagnosed with depression, depressed men are many times more likely to commit suicide than depressed women.
What Causes Depression?
Certain environmental and genetic factors interact to increase a person's susceptibility to depression. Although depression has a strong genetic component, many people with a strong familial history of the disorder escape it, and many people without a family history of depression succumb. Genetics tells only part of the story.
Factors that increase the risks of depression include:
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- Childhood trauma
- Chronic stress
- Extreme acute stress (bereavement or a job loss, for example)
- A negative personality
- Social isolation
- Perfectionism
- Being a woman
- Being in a difficult or unsatisfactory love relationship
- Serious medical illness
- Poverty
- Giving birth
page last update Aug 05, 2010
