Depression Essay -- essays research papers

In today’s society, we are faced with or placed in many unpredictable and stressful situations. However, many of us manage to properly analyze the situations and maintain our sanity, experiencing only a mild form of depression, if any. Others may encounter similar situations and become mentally depressed. Some reasons for being depressed are normal, such as, a death of a family member, parents divorce, or loss of job; but, depending on how long you are depressed, as a result of these misfortunate situations, can determine weather or not you are emotionally depressed. Depression is the most common psychological disorder that affects both the young and old, rich and poor, or even successful and unsuccessful people. Although depression occurs most often in individual who have little education, the truth is, we all are targets. One form of depression that plaques our society is called major depression. Major Depression is a mood disorder characterized by extreme and persistent feelings of despondency, worthlessness, and hopelessness causing impaired emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical functioning (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 1998). Major Depression affects about 12 million American a year (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 1998). Individuals who suffer from this form of depression is overwhelmingly sad. Often, sadness is accompanied by feelings of quilt, worthlessness, inadequacy, emptiness, and hopelessness, even though these individuals are surrounded by friends and f...