Part 4 - The Medical View

"Missing" - Flyleaf

The following definition is taken from http://www.enotes.com/gale-psychology-encyclopedia/ ; an on-line encyclopaedia of psychological terms and illnesses:

Depression - An emotional state or mood characterised by one or more of these symptoms: sad mood, low energy, poor concentration, sleep or appetite changes, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, and thoughts of suicide.

Although a very basic definition, it is concise in it’s accuracy. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), the most used diagnostic tool in psychiatry, delves further into this condition, and breaks it down into a much more detailed synopsis. I wouldn’t like to recite them all, so I’m just going to focus on the specific type of depression that I suffer with.

I would like to stress at this point that there is, and always will be milestones of difference between stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and depression; although one of them may lead to further symptoms of one, or more of a variety of conditions relating to the others.

I do suffer severe anxiety, and stress, but this is largely a direct result of my illness: Clinical Depression.
I believe clinical depression to be different from other similar disorders, as clinical depression can be viewed as a medical illness.

The brain produces chemicals to influence your emotions, one of which is called serotonin. Serotonin is the chemical your brain releases when you are "happy". For example, most people enjoy chocolate. Chocolate has been scientifically proven to increase the production and release of serotonin in the brain, so therefore you feel really happy when you eat it. Simple biology really. The vast majority of the world’s human population have slightly fluctuating levels of serotonin production, so may feel a varying degree of happiness throughout their lives.

Clinical Depression is caused when the brain does not produce or release anywhere near a "normal" amount of this chemical, leading to the symptoms briefly described in the above definition. This is a medical disorder, and not just a "made-up" illness for those deemed less able than others in society‘s eyes, as some people would see it. I find this misconception irritatingly ignorant, and one I try to dissuade people from, whenever possible.

I believe this attitude towards the "none existent" condition of depression can be cured with awareness, knowledge, and education, about the illness. It can be hereditary, either through the passing down of this chemical deficiency (which cannot be proven), or the environment of your up-bringing being altered by a parents/guardians experiences with the illness. This is something that I will have to live with, to a varying degree, for the rest of my life, and the constant up-hill struggle to validate this disorder to uneducated people, is never going to help sufferers of the illness. And there are millions.