One of the most serious psychological disorders in our modern world today is depression. It afflicts about 18.8 million American adults over the age of 18. More so, 90 percent of suicide acts, attempts and successful ones included, can be traced back to bouts of depression. Knowing about the symptoms and treatment of depression is a good way to start dealing with this plague of modern age.

Depression is a hard condition to deal with. It might not appear to be as serious as other disorders, except in cases where suicides are involved, but it can be recurring. Depression encompasses the physical as well as emotional aspects of an individual. One's brain and mood function can easily be affected because of depression. It also has effects on one's sleeping habits, work and even on relationships. Such effects are very important that depression should be cured at the soonest possible time.

This disorder can easily be observed. It is clearly manifested in a person's actions and daily activities. Aside from that feeling of absolute sadness and misery, one also feels being tired most of the time. There is a sense of being useless and helpless as well as the absence of the motivation to even just move a muscle.

Due to depression, one may also experience weight loss as an effect of appetite loss. This is, however, not true for all depressed individuals since there are some people who tend to eat more once they go into a depressive state. Depression may also result in irritability and aggression. Basically, depression is all about low, or sometimes non-existent, energy.

As a result of all these feelings that come with depression, a lot of negative things can happen. In fact, certain physical changes take place which can completely show how down the person is. There is a tendency to not be bothered by one's physical appearance or any forms of reckless and irresponsible behavior. At some point, a depressed individual may also get to a point of feeling guilty and ashamed for certain actions or the lack thereof.

A lot of people say that it is all in the mind. This is true up to some point. Actually, there are various ways to handle depression and its ill effects. Taking the 'Pull yourself' approach seems to be the simplest one. However, this is a very hard thing to do for most people who are experiencing depression. There is even a tendency for these people to feel even worse when they are not able to do what others consider to be really easy things.

Another helpful option is to get a counselor to help sort out the issues. Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis procedures have also been long proven to be effective for cases of depression. A faster and cheaper way to deal with depression is in the form of antidepressant medications. These should, however, be taken with the advice of a professional in order to avoid any further complications that might even be more serious than the initial condition.