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Depression is a type of illness that affects the whole body, mood and thoughts. It affects your self esteem, the way you eat, sleep, feel and do your day to day activities. People with severe depressive illness can't even pull themselves together and without proper treatment the symptoms can last for weeks, months, or even years.

The symptoms of depression may vary from person to person, but generally include many of the following symptoms. You no longer seem to think like you used to think. You start to experience problems with concentration and it can get hard for you to make even simple decisions. You start to feel negative about the whole world. Pessimism, poor self-esteem, excessive guilt, and self-criticism are some of the most common feelings that characterize the state of depression. Individuals suffering from severe depressive illness often have suicidal tendencies.

Lack of motivation and constant feeling of tiredness are other symptoms. Sometimes irritability is a problem, and you may have more difficulty controlling your temper. Extreme cases of depression are characterized by feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Most of the time those people are thinking about the bad things in life and what has went wrong with their life.

The negativism associated with depression leads to changes in behavior. The person might act more apathetic, because that's how he or she feels. Withdrawing socially is also quite common. Some people start to complain about everything and get relieve from their anger in the form of temper outbursts. Sexual desire may disappear, resulting in lack of sexual activity. In the extreme, people may neglect their personal appearance, even neglecting basic hygiene. Work productivity and household responsibilities also decrease.

Imagine how bad the situation can get for a person if those symptoms last for weeks, months or years. His whole life can take a turn for the worst. Such people need professional care to tackle the problem. Remember, depression is treatable. Instead of worrying about whether you are depressed (or a family member), do something about it.

There are a lot researches conducted on this problem. Stats show that while depression can affect anyone, its effect may vary depending on your age and gender. Women have twice as higher risk of suffering from depression than males, because of hormonal changes brought on by puberty, menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy. Elderly people are also very likely to get depressed, especially if they have lost their loved ones and are living alone.

There are a lot of cures for depression. Medication includes different types of medicines which help to fight the symptoms of depression. But the bad side here is that the person might get addicted to those pills. The symptoms will fade away when they are used, but the person might feel even more depressed if he stops the medicine. Therefore, it is best to fight with natural means. Sport and exercising can be a real cure. That is because sporting activities like bicycling, basketball, football or any other type of sport increase the levels of dopamine and adrenaline in your brain making you feel good about yourself. You have to change your whole attitude. What this means is to mentally tell yourself to stop sulking around and to think of all the good things that life has brought you.