Depression Defined

Life is full of emotional ups and downs. But when the "down" times are long lasting or interfere with your ability to function, you may be suffering from a common, serious illness-depression. Clinical depression affects mood, mind, body, and behavior. Research has shown that in the United States about 19 million people-one in ten adults-experience depression each year, and nearly two-thirds do not get the help they need.

Treatment can alleviate the symptoms in over 80 percent of the cases. Yet, because it often goes unrecognized, depression continues to cause unnecessary suffering. Depression is a pervasive and impairing illness that affects both women and men, but women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men.1 Researchers continue to explore how special issues unique to women-biological, life cycle, and psycho-social-may be associated with women's higher rate of depression. No two people become depressed in exactly the same way. Many people have only some of the symptoms, varying in severity and duration. For some, symptoms occur in time-limited episodes; for others, symptoms can be present for long periods if no treatment is sought.

Having some depressive symptoms does not mean a person is clinically depressed. For example, it is not unusual for those who have lost a loved one to feel sad, helpless, and disinterested in regular activities. Only when these symptoms persist for an unusually long time is there reason to suspect that grief has become depressive illness. Similarly, living with the stress of potential layoffs, heavy workloads, or financial or family problems may cause irritability and "the blues." Up to a point, such feelings are simply a part of human experience. But when these feelings increase in duration and intensity and an individual is unable to function as usual, what seemed a temporary mood may have become a clinical illness.

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