Depressed!!

Once in a while we may feel down in the dumps due to a personal crisis, let down, or just feeling overwhelmed about certain things in our lives that can make us stress out and sometimes make us feel sad because there are times when we can't do much about it. So, when people ask us what is wrong, sometimes we happen to over exaggerate and say that we are feeling depressed! (I am guilty of saying this) But the truth I'm not really depressed just feeling gloomy, being depressed is more severe, when a person feels sad and helpless for weeks at a time and they don't have the motivation to do anything at all. I've never experienced this disorder or have I ever witnessed it on someone but it doesn't sound like something I would want to go through. I would think it feels like your trapped within your body/mind and don't have the strength to go about your business. 

There are so many methods of treating a person going through depression such as antidepressant drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, altered sleep patterns and even psycho therapy. Some are more popular than others depending on how mild to severe the depression is.

I was able to find statistics on how often this illness occurs among adults, and even though the information is not recent, it can still give us an idea of how many people it affects. Women are more likely to have a major depressive disorder than males, and 30% of the depression cases are known to be as "severe". It may not seem like an illness many people go through but the truth is is does affect plenty of people throughout the country. 

The chart below shows a percentage of adults dealing with depression, it had declined since 2004 and I'm wondering now if its as declined even more since 2008 at a 6.4% or if it has stabilized or increased since then.