Is Depression Dragging You Down?

Depression is a medical illness and should be treated like one. It is more of a neurological disorder than a psychological one, but people who do seek medical intervention for depression rarely go to a neurologist

A persistently low mood, loss of weight. continuous anxiety, a constant urge to cry, feeling of worthlessness, behavioral changes and suicidal tendencies, these are all signs and symptoms of depression and needs immediate medical attention. However, in India, a lack of awareness and misconceptions that surround depression means that a large number of people do not seek medical treatment, and end up with severe problems.

Prevalence of depressive disorders in the elderly population in India varies from 13 to 25 per cent, according to a study by National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Depression is often considered taboo, so people avoid talking about ¡t. Therefore, it is important to create awareness that depression is more of a neurological disorder than a psychological one, but people who do seek medical intervention for depression rarely go to a neurologist.

Depression is a disease and it should be treated by seeing a neurologist, first. Essentially, ¡t is important to understand that depression is not just a feeling of being sad or going through a rough patch, but a mental illness that needs to be cured. Popular actor Deepika Padukone’s initiative to openly talk about battling depression is encouraging as it may help many people open up and share their own stories and experiences.

Depression: A Neurological Disorder

Depression never occurs due to a single cause and is mostly instigated by a communion of several factors. Most of these factors are provoked by the surroundings, lite experiences. stress and pressure but the disorder occurs in the brain. Untreated prolonged depression can further cause neurological disorders. The rates of the depressive syndrome are considerably higher among the patient population that neurologists treat. Though. the norm is to visit a psychiatrist, it is advisable to begin the treatment by first visiting a neurologist.

Health Risks And Depression

Even though many factors are held accountable for depression, none of them has been identified as the true cause of the disease. Studies have reconfirmed depression to trigger three major health risks namely, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease and stroke. However, there are several health issues also associated with depression, such as loss or gain of weight, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease or repercussion of substance abuse.

Heart Diseases

According to findings presented by the Euro Heart Care 2014, the rate of heart attacks is five per cent to 40 per cent higher in people with depression than in normal people. Although no verifying link could have been developed, researchers have applied various theories to derive the connections. Accordingly, depression leads to a condition whereby the patient is careless about his/her health. Depression also forces people to reduce physical activities pushing them towards a sedentary lifestyle. During depression, the patient touches the lower chords of mood, which increases the level of stress hormones. And all these factors together. work to develop heart diseases in a patient suffering from depression.

Stroke

Depression has been found to trigger cumulative damage to the vasculature of the brain that can further lead to strokes. Essentially, the risk of stroke does not only occur when the patient is suffering from depression. but also exists even after the recovery from the disease. According to the findings that appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the chances of stroke in depressed people increases by 45 per cent, while chances of them dying from that stroke increases by 55 per cent. The prime reason behind the statistics could be the tendency of depressed people to quit taking care of their health and food, which accumulates to affect the brain and thereby causes stroke. However, studies are still being conducted to discover whether the stroke is the cause or consequence of depression.

Studies have reconfirmed depression to trigger three maajor health risks namely – Parkinson’s disease, heart disease and stroke

Alternation In Body Weight

Change in body weight is the first visible symptom of depression. The alteration in weight can be an increase or decrease in amount. While many people report to lose body weight due to improper intake of diet and food, several others have considerable weight gain due to the depression coping drugs. Many also consider obesity to trigger depression. as the situation causes inflammation in the body, which raises the risk of depression. Similar to other conditions, the connection of depression with obesity too goes both ways.