There are any number of reasons depression can become an issue.  Marital status, financial problems, sleep disturbances, chronic pain, anxiety, medical, or mental illness and even where a person lives all can play a hand in whether they will have issues with depression.  For example, depression tends to be higher in those who are homeless or facing homelessness.  Also, long-lasting factors such as a history of unemployment or an extremely difficult marriage are more likely to play a more significant role in depression than temporary problems.

Here's how you can tell if you might be suffering from depression:

• Are you noticing a change in your sleep pattern?  Do you have difficulty falling or staying asleep?  Do you sleep excessively?
• Have you noticed a change in your appetite?  Are you eating a lot more or a lot less?
• Do you have poor concentration?  Do you find yourself having a hard time following something as simple as a newspaper article or short TV program?
• Have you noticed a loss in energy?  Do you find it difficult to perform even the the most normal, basic, daily routines?
• Do you find that you've lost interest in activities that were once very enjoyable to you?
• Do you dwell on things you've lost or failures you've experienced?
• Do you have strong feelings of hopelessness?  Do you have constant feelings that things will never improve?
• Do you have thoughts of suicide?  
• Do you feel physically depleted?  Do you have alternating feelings of being active and then agitated?

   Answering yes to any of these may or may not mean that you are suffering from depression.  In addition to the symptoms above, traumatic experiences also can be a factor in despression because of how the brain responds to an event over long periods of time.

   A traumatic experience that happens early in life, for example, can cause the brain to react differently to stresses and fears later in life.  Those early traumatic experiences or early childhood traumas and the consequent behavior patter of the can significantly impact the chances of major depression later in life.

   Treatment will vary with the extent of the depression.  Your medical professional may ask if you've experienced any of the following for longer than two weeks: feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed, change in appetite, dramatic weight loss or gain, severe sleep disturbances, chronic fatique or energy loss, and suicidal thoughts, intentions or attempts.

   The professional treating you will first need to determine if the depression is actually a depressive state or part of bipolar disorder.  In some cases antidepressants, which are the typical "go-to" treatment for major depression, can sometimes cause manic behavior and may even worsen symptoms in people suffering from bipolar illness.

   In severe cases of major depression, mood stabilizers as well as psychosocial treatments, rather than antidepressants, can often be used with effective results.  You will need to talk to a professional to help make the diagnosis and discuss treatments for your symptoms.

Depression can be debilitating and tricky to diagnose...it can be managed.

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