Depression and its Effects: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Depression is a mental disorder that is common in people with stress. It affects people a way of behavior due to its symptoms that affect the way of thinking, sleeping, eating, working and able to handle other daily activities. For the disorder to be diagnosed, it must have lasted for at least two weeks. Depression is of different forms and each form develops under a different circumstance. For instance, dysthymia commonly referred to as persistent depressive disorder is a depressed mood which has lasted for two weeks. The symptoms of this disorder are less severe (Bartolomucci, 2009). In addition, there is perinatal depression which is mainly experienced by women after delivering. It may also affect then during the third trimester of pregnancy. Some of the symptoms accompanied by the disorder are sadness and anxiety. Its effect on the new mothers is that it makes it difficult for them to complete their daily tasks as well as taking care of their newly born babies. 

Psychotic depression is another form of the disorder and occurs when a person is experiencing depression in addition to hallucinations and delusions (Beck, 1996). It mainly occurs in places where the poverty level is high, people suffering from certain diseases and in case of guilt. Lastly, there is seasonal affective depression which mainly occurs when there is less exposure to natural sunlight. It is accompanied by weight gain and withdrawal from social activities. It is more common not to be a part of Social media in today’s society. On social media, the average American in today society is often part of more than one. This includes Instagram and Facebook. Social media has become an addiction to one’s life. Society has a screen haven’t social interaction with the Internet instead Of reaching out in building relationship with the world around them (Cummings & Davis, 1994). The Internet has many effects on us today society. One of the major problems that have definitely increased is depreciated in Americans. Very few people have been diagnosed with depression in the past decade. In addition, there has been a significant increase in depression rate over the past couple of years (Bartolomucci & Leopard, 2009). It is not a natural assumption in today society that depression has risen to Social media. The bad part about it is that one who has a perfect life created a society that is mentally distressing. People may see an increase, who already dealing with depression, due to social media. Furthermore, this may not sound important, but it is a very serious issue that needs to be dealt with. Depression and he fix the one,s mine (Boris, 1996). Some people can’t handle trouble dealing with everyday situations without clearly and coherently processing any information. It is necessary that depression is dealt with properly for the safety of the average American who is dealing with mental health. Depression is on the rise due to social media. 

Depression among the Cancer Patients 

Cancer is responsible for over 20% of deaths. Therefore, cancer patients are faced with a lot of stress due to the fear of death, interruption of their social life, change in the body’s physical structure and reduced self-esteem. Due to depression, the level of cancer progresses and becomes complicated. The disorder affects cancer people differently because the patients are not usually the same (Tiffany, 1998). There is a difference on the cancer site, age, the stage of the disease and the type of treatment a patient is undergoing. Due to the effects of the disease on religious factors, social factors, economic aspects, the patients develop depression 

Effects on Infants at Early Stage 

Infants usually interact with their mothers on daily basis. Maternal depression affects the way a mother interacts with her infant mainly through intrusion and withdrawal. Intrusive mothers become hostile to the child and interrupt the activities of an infant. In response, an infant gets angry with the mother and turn away from her to reduce her intrusion. Infants are unable to cope with the situation and develop passivity and start looking away from their mother and suck their thumbs. Stress in infants affects their cognitive development (Henningsen et al., 2003). If their mothers are depressed too, they are not able to offer cognitive stimulation. 

Depression in Children and Teenagers 

School children of depressed mothers have impaired and adaptive problems especially in the way they internalize and externalize things. They develop behaviors changes due to the disturbances they face. They develop bad attitudes and lose their interests in things they used to enjoy. Some even suffer physical problems through the effects vary between the teens. Depression at the teenage can have long-lasting effects thus its necessary to find long-term treatment. Signs and symptoms of depression in teenagers include the use of alcohol and drugs, increased time that they spend alone, restlessness, increased absent days in school, poor performance, and decreased participation in the co-curricular activities (Kazdin, 1990). Those who suffer physical symptoms may have increased weight or loss their weight, change in the appetite and increase the number of hours they sleep. 

Medical and Physical Symptoms of Depression 

Depression has many physical effects on its patients which include pain of the joints, back pain, change in sleep, gastrointestinal problems, reduced physical activity and changed appetite. In most cases, depression is difficult to diagnose because patients report their physical symptoms (Ferrari et al., 2013). Depression mainly affects the functioning of neural transmitters which is accompanied by pain and change in the mood. The use of antidepressants restores the normal functioning of neural transmitters resulting in recovery. Patients with many physical symptoms experience an increased mood change compared to those with less physical symptoms. 

Disruption of the Family Functioning 

Depression has many negative effects on the functioning of a family. When parents are depressed, the effect is transmitted to the children who in turn suffer from depression. Many children are affected especially when it is the mother suffering from depression. Thus if untreated, children are likely to suffer from social, emotional and cognitive problems. Children who are in schools are affected academically and they start recording poor grades (Cummings & Davis, 1994). The best way to help your family is seeking professional assistance. Treatment is the best solution because there is a wide variety of drugs that help improve the condition 

Conclusion 

Depression is a disease and it has negative impacts to the infected. Moreover, the impacts affect the people who are around the infected person. It has negative effects on people’s social life. The disorder can infect any person starting from infants, school children, and even their parents. The best way of handling the disorder is seeking medical assistance because there is a wide variety of anti-depression drugs. 

References  

Bartolomucci A, Leopard, R (2009). Stress and Depression: Preclinical Research and Clinical Implications. PLoS ONE 4(1): e4265.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004265 

Beck, Cheryl Tatano (1996) A Meta-Analysis of Predictors of Postpartum Depression: Nursing Research: September/October 1996-Volume 45-Issue 5-pp.297-303 Article 

Boris Birmaher M.D. (1996). Childhood and Adolescent Depression: A Review of the Past 10 Years. Part II: December 1996-Volume 35-Issue 12-pp.1575-1583. Doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199612000-00008 

Cummings, E.M. and Davis, P.T. (1994). Maternal Depression and Child Development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35: 73-122. Doi: 10.11111j.1469-7610.1994.tb01133.x 

Ferrari AJ, Charlson FJ, Norman RE, Patten SB, Freedman G, Murray CJ, et al. (2013) Burden of Depressive Disorders by Country, Sex, Age, and Year: Findings from the Global of Disease Study 2010. PLO Med 10 (11): e1002547. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001547 

Henningsen, Peter MD; Zimmerman, Thomas Dip/Psych; Sattel, Heribert Dip/Psych Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms, Anxiety, and Depression: A meta-Analytic Review: Psychosomatic Medicine: July 2003-Volume 65-Issue 4-p 528-533 doi: 10.1097/01.PSY.0000075977.90337.E7 Article 

Kazdin, A.E. (1990). Childhood Depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31: 121-160. Doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1990.tb02276.x 

  Negri, Ann M. “Treatment-Resistant Depression: Case Report.”    Depression , vol. 2, no. 5, 1994, pp. 281–283., doi:10.1002/depr.3050020508. 

Passik, Steven D., and Amy E. Lowery. “Recognition of Depression and Methods of Depression Screening in People with Cancer.”  Depression and Cancer , Feb. 2010, pp. 81–100., doi:10.1002/9780470972533.ch4. 

Tiffany Field PhD . (1998) Maternal Depression Effects on Infants and Early Interventions: Preventive Medicine: March 1998-Volume 27-Issue 2. pp. 200-203. Doi.org/10.1006/pied. 1998.0293