Depression: A mental Illness not a Personality trait

Metal illness is intangible. We often confuse it with emotional weakness. But one must know that mental illness is similar to other illness like asthma or thyroid. Their cause can be genetic or environmental; and if neglected, the repercussions are fatal. And one of this fatal mental illness-which is confused with one’s personality trait- is Depression.

With over 350 million people affected by depression, according to WHO, Depression is the leading cause of mental disability. Undoubtedly, it is a matter of concern, and what makes it worse is ignorance.

Depression is the illness in which the victim suffers from interminable melancholy. However, there is a difference between ‘Feeling Depressed’ and ‘Having Depression’. We often say that we feel depressed, some of us even chose to post on Facebook- what it means is an evanescent state of sadness that might have been triggered by certain actions, loss, emotional break-down, less number of like and comments, or out of blue. These feelings pass away after a certain period of time just like the black clouds after rainfall. But having depression is worrisome, it is a mental disease. A depressed person is unlikely to feel lively. If not cured, sadness and irritation cling to the victim like an appendage throughout the life.

However, the precise cause of Depression hasn’t been discovered yet. It varies widely among the victims. It can have biological, psychological, or environmental causes. Studies have also shown genetic to be a factor. A person having two short copies of Serotonin Transporter Gene is vulnerable to Depression. Every individual has two copies of these genes, received from each parent. The genes are either short or long. The individual with short and long copies are likely to get depressed after some stressful events in life, and both shorts are vulnerable to get, whereas, the individual with both long copies are less likely to get depression.

Whatever may be the cause, physical manifestations that take place inside the brain proves depression to be a mental disorder. The hippocampus-the part of the brain which deals with emotions and memory-shrinks in size and the shrinking can continue until the victim is treated. The brain cells decrease sharply, cell-network gets disturbed too. Chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, which are termed as euphoria-hormone, deplete drastically.

Since depression affects that part of the brain that governs emotions, the mood of a person is unlikely to become better. Feeling melancholic for a long period of time jeopardize the social-life, performance, and evidently the life of the person. Hypertension, irritation, insomnia or hypersomnia, loss of appetite, weight loss or gain, loss in sexual desire, and frequent occurrence of suicidal thoughts become the part of the victim. And since the symptoms are intangible, it becomes hard to tell whether a person who looks jubilant don’t have depression.

Medications and therapies are available that can cure depression. Medicines that stimulate serotonin can be helpful for some people suffering from it. Similarly, electroconvulsive therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation are the most effective therapies available that can cure depression. However, these medicines and therapies can’t change the mindset of the people about the depression. A study done by National Institute of Mental Health suggested that for a depressed person it takes an average of ten years to seek medical help. This is an outcome of ignorance about depression.

So, if we happen to be or know a person suffering from depression from a long time, it is wise to seek or help to seek medical assistance, because Depression is a mental illness, not a personality trait.