Depression Support Group

What is Depression?

Depression is a mental state marked by profound sadness and the inability to experience pleasure, known clinically as anhedonia. Although sometimes used informally to mean just a passing period of melancholy, depression can refer to a mental illness with specific symptoms that warrant a medical diagnosis and professional support.

Causes of Depression

A large group of factors, including biology, environment, and internal psychology, can help lead to clinical depression. Biological factors include heredity, hormonal imbalances, brain chemical imbalances, and various physical illnesses. Environmental factors include any event usually associated with sadness, such as the death of a friend, career troubles, marital problems, financial hardships, social isolation, as well as climate-related events such as prolonged rains or lack of sunlight. Internal psychological factors include mental illnesses such as dementia or psychosis, or general personality factors such as a bleak outlook, helplessness, or a diminished sense of self worth.

Depression Treatments

Although there is no standard treatment for clinical depression that is right for everyone, sufferers do have many options that can be used in combination. Medication and professional therapy are two mainstays of depression treatment. DailyStrength users have personal experience with many prescription drugs and have reviewed them all, including Prozac, Effexor, Zoloft and Lexapro. They've also cited lifestyle-oriented activities such as self-help and meditation that offer relief. Interestingly, many of the non-medical treatments have very high reported success rates, although they often do take place in combination with prescription treatments.

Depression Resources and Support

In DailyStrength's depression support group, you can find help from other everyday people around the world. Chat with others successfully dealing with it -- some who are just starting out, and some who have been coping with depression for years. DailyStrength's other depression support groups include Childhood Depression, Teen Depression, Depression Supporters (for the loved ones of a person with Depression), Post Partum Depression, and Seasonal Affective Disorder.

If you are new to depression, or recently diagnosed, you may want to read through these very informative resources and discuss them in DailyStrengthís Depression Forum:

National Institute of Mental Health's Depression publication.
• Wikipedia's Clinical Depression page