BRITTANY YEAROUT
Perspectives Editor
With the attention given to depression in recent years, many people relegate it to being just another problem or statistic, making it as trivial as a weight loss gimmick. Although, recently, there has been more attention given to depression, it is still terribly misunderstood and underestimated.
Media attention is not always good. Everyone remembers in 2005 when Tom Cruise became Dr. Tom Cruise, telling journalist Matt Lauer that “psychiatry is a pseudoscience.” Well Dr. Cruise, 21 million adults suffer from a depressive illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health Web site, and I am one of them.
I was diagnosed with depression and slight Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in 2005, so for two years I have been taking Lexapro.
I am not looking for sympathy, but I want more people to understand what depression is, and for people who think they may have a depressive illness to know medicine can help.
“A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health. “It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself and the way one thinks about things.”
For me it is a constant inner struggle with many ups and downs. However, taking my medicine every day helps me feel stable.
“There is no single cause for depression. Many factors play a role, including genetics, environment, medical conditions, life events, and certain thinking patters that affect a person’s reaction to events,” according to the Web site kidshealth.org, which is sponsored by the Nemours Foundation that has various health facilities for children.
Also, research has shown that depression is a medical illness because it has a biological component. “Research suggests that depression may be linked to changes in the functioning of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Current research focuses on the serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine systems,” according to the University of California-Berkley’s Health Services Web site.
Many people don’t believe in depression. They think people must stand strong, pull themselves together and snap out of it. However, depression is not a weakness, it is something one just realizes he or she has. Like a person who has diabetes and must take insulin, a person diagnosed with depression should consider taking antidepressants since his or her disorder is likely caused by a chemical imbalance.
It is common for there to be anxious symptoms with depression, however, people have different symptoms and the best thing to do if a person feels depressed is to talk with someone, said Dave Christy, a counselor at Pepperdine’s Counseling Center.
Last year, 50 percent of Seaver undergraduate students reported being depressed, according to Christy. Those are only students who have decided not to be embarrassed and try to seek treatment.
“I would say run it by someone. Talk with a friend about it and more importantly go see someone professionally about it because they can diagnose it,” Christy said.
Most people with a depressive illness do not seek treatment, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And research has found that 60 percent of those who do seek treatment do not receive sufficient care, according to 4therapy.com, which sited the National Comorbidity Study.
“One important reason that people with depression fail to receive the help they need is that many turn to their family doctors, who often don’t treat depression aggressively enough,” according to 4therapy.com.
Family doctors are sometimes only family physicians, which is not the same as a psychiatrist or psychologist, and are not as professionally knowledgeable about mental health.
Depression needs to stop being a social stigma. If you feel depressed do not be afraid to get help. Do not think that it will just go away, talk to someone and seek treatment. Research shows that the best course of treatment for depression is a combination of therapy and medicine.
10-04-2007
