Everyone goes through life’s ups and downs. Happiness and sadness are both natural emotions. The everyday hassles and bustles of our routines can make us feel a little down in the dumps sometimes. That’s valid. Feeling negative emotions such as sadness, hurt, depression, frustration, and grief are normal. After a while, these feelings will go away and will no longer bother us, nor hinder us from going about in our lives, to move on and to leave the emotional baggage behind. Without looking back.

However, Depression is a different thing altogether.

Depression affects the thoughts, disposition, and behavior of an individual who is suffering from it. It ultimately interferes with a person’s ability to lead a healthy and happy life. A person who is suffering from depression will have a hard time in making the most of his or her life because her views and perceptions in life remain bleak and pessimistic. They tend to pull away and keep to themselves; basking in their low sense of esteem and worth.

Depression can be mild to severe, but even a mild case of depression may aggravate and lead to a severe case of depression. It can also be compounded with other forms of depression, thus making the disturbances harder to manage.

Depression is a complicated illness. A person who is naturally sentimental may think that he or she is in a state of depression because a certain occurrence in his or her life made his or her feel consistently sad. Remember, this is not always the case. Depression is different from sadness—in every sense of the word. Depression is sadness without a concrete reason, and it simply doesn’t go away that easily. Sadness, on the other hand, is an emotion that we give in to when we lose something, or someone important, or when hurt and disappointments come our way.

Know the difference between normal sadness and depression. There’s no use in giving yourself, and your friends and family, a fright.

Things couldn’t have been more worse for Anna. She’s been lagging behind in her math class and she’s really feeling bad about it. Plus, she and her best friend Justine have been drifting apart. Justine has found a new set of friends, a new circle whom she does not go along well with. To top it all off, her mother is filing for a divorce. She couldn’t believe it. Her perfect world is crumbling and she couldn’t do anything about it. Bummer.

Anna feels so bad about the way things have been turning out for her; she doesn’t even want to leave bed anymore. She started gaining weight because she doesn’t want to do anything anymore, her interest in sports and her high school drama club waned. All she wanted to do was to sleep and to eat and to feel miserable.

Anna stopped talking to her friends and to her family. She stopped attending her classes, too. She’s been exhibiting a weird behavior for two months that her parents started to worry about her. She was taken to the family physician, but the doctor said that she was physically well. However, he suggested a visit to an expert in teen psychology.

Heeding their doctor’s advice, Anna’s mother took her to a psychologist. The specialist’s diagnosis was clear: Anna is clinically depressed.

Clinical depression, a psychiatric disorder characterized by consistent low moods, loss of interest in a person’s usual activities, and a diminished ability to feel pleasure. It is a serious condition that can significantly affect a person’s work, family and school life, sleeping and eating habits, general health and ability to enjoy life

Major Depressive Disorder, which can also be referred to as Major Depression, Unipolar Depression, Clinical Depression, or simply Depression, is a serious psychological disorder that is usually manifests itself during the early adolescence stage of a person’s life. A person who suffers from this disorder is usually a victim of major depressive episodes; or certain events and situations and situations that frustrates, hurts, disappoints, or angers a person to a great extent.

People who are experiencing depression are bound to feel most, if not most, of the following: depressed mood or sadness without reason, lack of energy, irritability and anger, inability to concentrate, weight gain or weight loss, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, and pessimism and indifference. Death or suicide may also lionger in the minds of depressed individuals.

In addition to Major Depression, other types of depression include Dysthymia or Chronic Depression, and Bipolar Disorder or the Manic Depressive Disorder Dysthymia is characterized by moods that are consistently low. Meanwhile, Bipolar Disorder is characterized by the shift in moods that are extremely high and extremely low. Most forms of depression may lead to suicide once left neglected, and/or untreated.

Depression is a complex disorder and should not be dealt with generally; rather, it should be dealt with on a case-to-case basis. Depression can be a once-in-a-lifetime event, but at the same time, it can also be a multiple occurrence. In the same light, depression can last for merely a few months, or in worst cases, it can also be a life-long disorder.

Studies show that women are more prone to depression than men.

There are certain contributing factors that may cause depression. Among these are: family history, trauma and stress, pessimistic personality, physical conditions, and other psychological disorders.