What is Depression? What Causes Depression? What are the different types of Depression?

Answer 1

Here is what I have found.Hope it answers your question. :*)

1.Depression is a common psychiatric disorder2.In the past, doctors believed that depression was the result of thoughts or emotions that were troubling for a person. More recently, experts realize that there can be several factors working together that will lead a person to become depressed. The three most important of these are biological, genetic, and environmental factors.
3.kinds of depressive disorder, clinical depression, depression:
agitated depression — a state of clinical depression in which the person exhibits irritability and restlessness
anaclitic depression — severe and progressive depression in infants who lose their mother and do not get a suitable substitute
dysthymia, dysthymic depression — mild chronic depression
endogenous depression — a state of depression for which there is no apparent precipitating cause
exogenous depression, reactive depression — an inappropriate state of depression that is precipitated by events in the person's life (to be distinguished from normal grief)
major depressive episode — (psychiatry) a state of depression with all the classic symptoms (anhedonia and lethargy and sleep disturbance and despondency and morbid thoughts and feelings of worthlessness and sometimes attempted suicide) but with no known organic dysfunction
neurotic depression — a term used for any state of depression that is not psychotic
psychotic depression — a state of depression so severe that the person loses contact with reality and suffers a variety of functional impairments
retarded depression — a state of clinical depression in which the individual is lethargic and slow to initiate action

Answer 2

Depression is a general term for a group of symtoms that can include any or all of the following...
Low Mood
Feelings of Hopelessness / Worthlessness
Suicidal or self harming Ideas / action
Sleep Disturbance (more OR less sleep)
Apetite changes (going off food or comfort eating)
Loss of enjoyment from previously enjoyable activities
Lack of interest in sex
Withdrawal from social situations
Distorted or delusional negative thinking

Depression MAY be caused by external factors, such as a stressful life event, divorce, house move, even physical illness or going on holiday can be triggers. The brain over produces the chemicals which lead to the normal response and you get tipped into depression

However, depression may have no obvious cause (it is then called "Endogenous" - which means coming from within) The chemicals in the brain simply become unbalanced, and the person experiences the above symptoms with no objective explanation. It is no less real because its cause is !invisible" and may infact be more difficult to treat

Answer 3

Depression is a big subject. Basically run of the mill depression is when you become sad, lethergic, tearful, generally a feeling of unhappiness and that you might not want to carry on. You will find easy tasks become more difficult. Lose enthiusism for things, lose interest in hobbies.You may not want to be around people. You may feel a lack of self confidence. You may have mood swings. First your GP my try you on antidepressants, but therapy is a lot more popular these days.
However there is also classic bipolar depression (manic depression). This is much more difficult to manage and there is no real cure. There are very acute deep depressive phases and manic phases when one may do unrealistic things and have unrealistic thoughts. This is treated mainly by drugs as it more of a chemical imbalance.
Normal depression us also a chemical imbalance of seratonin, but it is not as severe. The drugs given for it are usually SSRI's Sertonin Reuptake Inhibitors.
As I said it is a very complcated subject and would take a long time to answer fully.
If you want to contact me you can e-mail me.
Hope you find this of some help.

Answer 4

There are many types of depression and it could be triggered by anything. Many factors play into this question bc not only do you have to research genetics and hormones, but also examine changes in your personality, chacteristics and etc. It's also a chemical imbalance in your hormones and even some drugs can induce or promote depression.

If you go to Wikipedia.com and perform a search you will find loads and loads of information.

Sorry for not being so informative... Im not really sure about the specifics of your question.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Depression is more than feeling the "blues". It affects sleep and appetite -- too much or too little --, sense of hope for the future, energy level, usually very low. Can be caused by external events eg. death of important person, loss of various kinds or it can be caused by alcohol or drugs which act as depressants -- or can be caused by internal events like heridity, chemical imbalances in brain, trauma. Best not treat yourself but seek help from a doctor or referral to psychiatric help.

Answer 7

This answer is going to simplistic, also some psychiatrists do not accept the distinction I am about to discuss.

I believe there are 2 types of depression: Endogenous= from within, and exogenous=from outside.

I believe that endogenous depression is a fault in brain chemistry, measurable by low serotonin levels. It is a true chemical illness best treated with medications that raise serotonin. The classical examples of this are SSRIs, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. Another good example of this problem is SAD= seasonal Affective disorder. Here certain individuals are very sensitive to modest falls in serotonin levels in the winter due to lack of sunlight. This will often respond to using UV light to increase serotonin levels. Endogenous depression is more difficult for the patient to understand as everything in their lives may be perfect. It does not need an event trigger. It may also be helped by psychotherapy, but generally needs medication as well.

Exogenous depression is the sadness and unhappiness produced by life events. It is easier to understand because it is generally triggered by unfortunate life events. It tends to be more amenable to treatment by counselling or psychotherapy, though if it is severe it may be helped by antidepressants as well.

Answer 8

There are many aspects of Depression..is due to despair and this feeling of emptiness...the positive thing is that there is treatment available for it. Alot of it is based psychologically bcos fo the way a person percieves things such as negative thoughts and biologically due to hormone inbalance. Depression can occur in almost anyone. Treatment for depression vary biologically it can be pills to correct the hormone imbalance and psychologically it is creating positive thinking or talking to someone. There is no fixed period for how long depression lasts it varies from person to person as it varies within how serious it is.
Heres a link http://www.depression.com/who_gets_depression.html

Answer 9

It's very easy to think you have depression. Everyone feels down sometimes. The medical definitions are vague and range from not feeling great to jumping off bridges. My advise would be that if you feel you have a serious problem, talk to your GP, who can refer you to a psychologist.

Answer 10

Too much information to list here suggest you do 3 different web searches in line with your questions.

Here is one:

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=What+is+Depression&src=IE-Address

Happy Reading