Depression is a chronic, long-lasting or recurring and treatable disorder, where the patient experiences sadness, worthlessness, loss of motive, loss of interest and/or hopelessness.

A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the mood and thoughts and in simple words can be expressed as persistent sad mood. Depression is not a character flaw or a sign of personal weakness and the suffering person can't make himself well by trying to snap out of it. Depression affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things.

Depression results from a complex partly understood biochemical changes in the brain, which are influenced and supported by multiple causes inclusive of the genetic trait, circumstantial factors, hormonal factors, socio-personal reasons, etc. Increased levels of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and norepinephrine are found to improve the state of depression.

Depression is much more common than we believe. However to get precise figures in terms of its prevalence is difficult as many of them go undetected and untreated. Women are twice more often affected by depression than men.

Not everyone who is depressed experiences all the symptoms listed below. Some people experience a few symptoms, some many. The severity of symptoms varies with individuals and also varies over time.

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

• Persistent sadness, anxious, or "empty" mood and unexplained crying spells
• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, guilt feeling, worthlessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex, social withdrawal
• Loss of energy, persistent lethargy
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
• Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
• Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain
• Thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts
• Restlessness, irritability, anger, agitation

Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain

 CAUSES OF DEPRESSION

There are several possible causes of depression. They can range from biological to circumstantial.

Common causes include:

• Family history. You’re at a higher risk for developing depression if you have a family history of depression or another mood disorder.
• Early childhood trauma. Some events affect the way your body reacts to fear and stressful situations.
• Brain structure. There’s a greater risk for depression if the frontal lobe of your brain is less active. However, scientists don’t know if this happens before or after the onset of depressive symptoms.
• Medical conditions. Certain conditions may put you at higher risk, such as chronic illness, insomnia, chronic pain, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• Drug use. A history of drug or alcohol misuse can affect your risk.

About 21 percent of people who have a substance use problem also experience depression. In addition to these causes, other risk factors for depression include:

• • low self-esteem or being self-critical
  • personal history of mental illness
  • certain medications
  • stressful events, such as loss of a loved one, economic problems, or a divorce

HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION

Homeopathy offers an excellent treatment for all stages of Depression, especially in the early stages. Homeopathy can take care of various symptoms of depression. Extreme cases of depression or the cases where the patients are on high doses of the conventional medicines for a long time (drug dependency) may not find good results using homeopathy.

Homeopathy can positively influence personality traits that are working at the base of disease. The important aspect is that depression is a disease in which genetic make-up is topped with environmental stress result in disease. Homeopathic medicines are very deep acting and having the potential to counter genetic tendencies. Homeopathy medicines address the root cause of the disease and hence prevent the relapse and recurrence of the condition. Last but not the least, homeopathy medicines are absolutely free from any side-effects as opposed to most of the conventional medicines like anti-depressants and anxiolytics.

Homeopathy goes into the depths of depression, and the treatment is thus based on the underlying causes of it.

The results achieved using from homeopathy can be augmented with supportive measures like counseling and psychotherapy.

Ignatia , Aconite, Arsenic album, stramonium e.t.c, RL47