DEPRESSION

Sadness and grief are normal human emotions. We all have those feelings every day from time
to time, but those feelings usually go away within hours or few days. Depression is something
more. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, depression is a serious medical condition in
which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal
way. Depression is characterized by a number of common symptoms according to John M. Grohol,
and these include a persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood, and feelings of hopelessness or
pessimism that lasts nearly every day, for weeks on end. A person who has depression not only
feels being sad or lonely but they also feels like they’ve sunk into a deep, dark hole with no way out
and no hope for things ever changing. Depression is a serious thing, so to those people who were
depressed, they should be treated immediately to save them from drowning and to save them from
the things that a depressed person can do. In the article on depression by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, depression remains one of the main causes of death and illness in the U.S.
and is linked to inability to function socially, reduced quality of life and disability. Depression can
affect anyone, anytime, anywhere, children, teens and adult. Mostly teenagers experienced
depression, and based on my research, 350 million people worldwide suffers from this mental
disorder and women are the most likely to be diagnosed than men. With those number of people
who have depression worldwide, how many can survive? Can they all get out from the dark hole?
Depression brings people down to a joyless state in which they do not see the positive side of any
concept; however, with proper medications and treatments, they can be brought back to normal
emotion levels.

Different way of medications and treatments can be used for treating a person with depression.
We have these psychological treatments (also known as talking therapies) that can help depressed
people to bring back their old self. First can be counseling, a counseling which the counselors are
trained to listen in an objective manner and offer helpful feedback, insight and clarification. Second
is Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and according to Beyond [Link], CBT is one of the
most effective treatments for depression. It is also said that this psychological treatment works to
change your thoughts and behaviour by teaching you to think rationally about common difficulties,
helping you to shift negative or unhelpful thought patterns and reactions to a more realistic, positive
and problem-solving approach. Next psychological treatment is the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive
therapy (MBCT) also called as “mindfulness meditation”. This treatment combines cognitive
behavioral techniques with mindfulness strategies in order to help individuals better understand and
manage their thoughts and emotions in order to achieve relief from feelings of distress and as a
result, you can be able to deal with warning signs earlier and more effectively. All of these
psychological treatments can be effective but not all depressed person can be save by those
treatments and that is because of the way they think. Others don’t want to go on a counselor or a
therapist because they think they can’t save them and some did go like Vienne Tamara Co in the
wattpad story that I’ve read, and she said that counselor made her feel worse for making her realize
that change is constant and it is the only permanent thing in our world.

Medical treatments can also be the treatments for depression. The main medical treatment for
this mental disorder is antidepressant medication (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
This treatment might help you to lift your mood and to feel back your old emotion. Antidepressants
are sometimes prescribed when other treatments have not been successful or when psychological
treatments aren't possible due to the severity of the condition or a lack of access to the treatment.
Taking these antidepressants can cause side effects and some of these are dry mouth, urinary
retention, blurred vision, constipation, sedation (can interfere with driving or operating machinery),
sleep disruption, weight gain, headache and nausea. If the psychological and medical treatment
were not effective to those who have depression, there’s also a natural treatment for depression.
According to Dr. Lissa Rankin, natural treatments for depression are--Consider why you might feel
depressed, move your body, never skip a meal, eat a serotonin-enhancing diet, avoid caffeine which
reduces serotonin levels, expose yourself to sunlight, which can boost mood and increase Vitamin
D levels, meditate or try guided imagery, make efforts to bolster your mental health by being more
authentic in all aspects of your life, try mood-enhancing supplements, get your hormones balanced
and talk it out. We have many available treatments for depression, but it is always on the patients
or to the depressed people if they really want to be cured or not.

Depression is a serious thing. This is a dangerous battle; a battle with their thoughts. They
smile to everyone everyday but behind those smiles is a broken soul. They feel that they’re not
completely alone but in reality they are. Travelling is one of their comforts and it is because they’re
finding that thing; a thing that can give them hope, hopes for them to stay alive and to stay in this
world. Psychological treatment, medical treatment and natural treatment are the treatments that can
save someone who has depression but I think the best treatment for depression is love and attention
because in the first place they become depressed because they are lack of those things. For those
who were suffering from depression, look around, there’s a lot of amazing things that can give you
hopes. Don’t let your thoughts control you; you should be the one to control it. Let it out, crying
with someone else is not a crime; it is one of the best medicine for you to get well. Try to fight
those evils that are ruining every inch of yourself, fight for you to win and fight for the sake of your
life. Spread your wings widely and fly. Don’t be afraid to fall because God is there to catch you,
God is there to save you and God is there to remind you that life is worth fighting for.
Grohol, J. (2017). Introduction to Depression. Psych Central. Retrieved from
[Link]

Psychological treatments for depression. (2016). Retrieved from

Rankin, L. (2011). 11 Natural Treatments for Depression. Retrieved from

SUBMITTED BY: KRISTINE SOROTEN

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SUBMITTED TO: MA’AM BRENDA ZACARIAS