Depression is the commonest illness of all: 40% of the population will experience this condition at some time in their lives. It may be mild or severe. It can be a brief phase in someone’s life, or can lead to prolonged personal unhappiness, sometimes even to self harm or long-term disability. It is often associated with anxiety symptoms.
It occurs with many other physical illnesses, yet may sometimes pass unrecognized by doctors, families and even by people themselves. It can be difficult to recognize particularly when it occurs in childhood, postnatal or in later life.
Families of people with depression may have many concerns and questions about the condition which medical staff may find difficult to answer because of problems of time and issues of confidentiality.
Depression can present in many ways: it can mimic other medical conditions; it can appear associated with fatigue, stress, headaches, poor work or academic performance, marital difficulties, alcohol or drug problems, or for no obvious reason at all. Causes may be deep-seated – or sometimes surprisingly straightforward. It may present quite differently in those from other cultures.
Treatments include the ‘talking treatments’ (various types of psychotherapy) and medication. Both long-established and newly developed medications are effective, as is at least one alternative herbal remedy. None of these is without some side-effect. General practitioners treat most cases; but people who are more severely depressed may be treated by psychiatrists, in outpatient clinics or as hospital inpatients. However this illness affects you, a friend, or a member of your family, we hope that you will find something helpful in the following pages. We’ve used a wide variety of descriptions of depression, its causes and its best treatment, ranging from brain chemistry to social explanations. We have tried to include something for everybody.
