Depression:

Depression is a mood disorder and is one of the most common emotional problems people experience today. There are excellent treatments for depressive disorders which can result from a neurochemical imbalance within the brain, chronic thoughts of helplessness and personal losses.
There are two major categories of depressive disorders: Unipolar Depression and Bipolar Depression. Symptoms of Unipolar Depression frequently include feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, sadness, lethargy, lack of motivation, suicidal thoughts, decreased appetite, sleep disturbances, marked changes in weight, crying, agitation, irritability, and mood swings. In Bipolar Disorder, the individual has changing moods which include the symptoms of Unipolar Depression but in addition include manic episodes like angry outbursts, engaging in behaviors which carry a high risk of personal harm, flights of ideas, decreased need for sleep and occasionally, psychotic episodes. Individuals with Bipolar Disorder can experience their mood swings in varying intervals during the year, or they can be “rapid-cyclers”, indicating that they experience extreme mood swings many times during the course of the day. Both of these conditions require medical and psychiatric intervention as they frequently are associated with medical problems and have been shown to be associated with immune suppression. Anti-depressants coupled with cognitive psychotherapy have been shown to be the most effective means of treating Unipolar and Bipolar Depression. Patients I have treated for both of these disorders have learned that while there may be no cure for their mood disorder, learning the cognitive, behavioral emotional triggers to their mood changes is the best defense in preventing the potentially devastating effects depression can have on a person’s life and family.