Depression
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What is Depression?
Everyone has times when they feel the ‘blues' or when they get sad from time to time. Depression, on the other hand, is a sadness so severe that it can cause:
Difficulties functioning at home, work or school
Changes in sleep, energy, appetite and concentration,
Feelings such as sadness, anxiety, irritability or anger,
Low self-esteem or feelings of hopelessness. When extremely severe, people who are depressed may have thoughts of hurting themselves.
How Common is Depression?
Depression is a common condition that can affect anyone at any age. In any given year, it is estimated that it ...
What is Depression?
It is normal for children and youth to feel sad from time to time. But this sadness doesn’t stop them from going on with their everyday activities. And it goes away on its own. Depression, on the other hand, is a sadness so severe that it interferes with everyday life.
Typical symptoms of depression (aka clinical depression, or major depressive disorder) are:
Feeling sad, worried, irritable or angry.
Lack of enjoyment in life, or troubles enjoying anything
Feeling hopeless and worthless, Troubles coping with everyday activities at home, school, or work
Problems ...
Amanda's Story
I used to be happy go lucky when I was younger. But when I got to be a teenager, things started to get really stressful.
My parents split up.
I got into a fight with some friends on social media.
I felt so alone. I felt like nobody cared about me. I got realy depressed, and at times, I felt life wasn't worth living.
But then I saw a picture of myself with my parents when I was younger -- it reminded me how happy I used to be. I decided to give my mom a chance -- so I told her what was happening and how I was feeling...
What is Depression?
It is normal to feel sad from time to ...
One Mother's Story
"After my first child was born, I started to cry all the time and feel sad. And I felt guilty because you're supposed to be happy about being a new mom and all that. So I hid all of the sadness from everyone else. The funny thing is, that I was doing such a good job at making things look good on the surface, that no one knew I was depressed. But I knew it was time to get help when I started to really resent my child."
"I saw my family doctor, who told me that I had Post-Partum Depression. We started with some counselling but after a few weeks things weren't getting any better, so I ...
What is Seasonal Depression?
"I used to really hate the winters. I'd get sad and start crying for no reason. I'd just hibernate - stop going out, sleep all the time, and couldn't stop eating carbs, and I'd gain ten pounds every winter. And then I realized that really what I had was winter depression."
Seasonal affective disorder (aka SAD, season depression or winter depression in North America) is a type of depression that occurs in the fall/winter months. It usually begins in late fall or early winter and goes away by summer, and is felt to be due to the seasonal lack of sunlight.
But doesn't everyone get a little ...
What is self-harm?
Self-harm is when people purposely try to hurt themselves. Common ways of self-harm include:
Self-cutting
Scratching or burning one's skin
"Minor" overdosing of medications (taking excess amounts of medications but not enough to kill oneself)
Head banging (banging one's head against a wall).Who Self-Harms?
People of all ages may self-harm, though self-injury behaviours start on average at age 15, and is most commonly seen in teenagers and young adults.
Why do people self-harm?
It is believed that people self-harm in order to cope or deal with some stress. Some of ...