Symptoms of a depressive episode can include: loss of interest in things you used to enjoy, change in weight, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping, energy loss, feelings of worthlessness, and thoughts of death or suicide.
At the height of the Depression in 1933, 24.9% of the nation's total work force, 12,830,000 people, were unemployed. Wage income for workers who were lucky enough to have kept their jobs fell 42.5% between 1929 and 1933. It was the worst economic disaster in American history.
The average age of onset for major depressive disorder is between 35 and 40 years of age. Onset in early adulthood may be linked with more depressive episodes, a longer duration of illness, and therefore a more difficult clinical course.
Major depression can lead to physical changes in the brain.
In fact, in a survey of adults with a mood disorder, about half reported experiencing chronic pain, according to results published this year in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Depression can cause physical changes to the brain, too.
In their lifetimes, about one in five Australians will experience depression. Around the world, depression affects around 300 million people.
Depression is a mood disorder that causes sadness and related symptoms to be more intense or last longer than usual after a difficult event. Depression can also occur without a triggering event. Children may have depression if their symptoms, which may include sadness, occur every day for more than 2 weeks.
Research suggests that depression doesn't spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, and stressful life events.
Researchers have known for years that women are about twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression as men, with depression being the leading cause of disease burden among women. But the differences don't end there. Depression also looks different in men.
In Australia, approximately 14% of 4 to 17 year olds experience a mental health problem each year, amounting to 560,000 Australian children and adolescents in any one year, with 278,000 and 112,000 experiencing anxiety and depression disorders, respectively [1].
Childhood anxiety disorders are very common, affecting one in eight children. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates a prevalence between the ages 13 and 18 years of 25.1 percent and a lifetime prevalence of 5.9 percent for severe anxiety disorder.
Among Australians aged between 12–25 years, depression causes more burden than any other illness, either physical or mental. Around 1 in 6 young people will experience depression during adolescence and the rates are higher among young females than young males.
The term “depression” came into use in the 19th century, originally as “mental depression,” to describe lowering of spirits, and came to replace melancholia as a diagnosis.
It's possible to live with depression and feel happy at the same time. Sadness isn't the only depression symptom. If you're living with depression or know someone who is, you may think that the main symptom is a perpetual state of sadness.
Instead, major depression is a persistently sad or irritable mood that affects a child's thinking and behavior at home, in school, and with peers. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that more than 10 percent of adolescents ages 12-17 experience major depression in a given year.
So how long do depressive episodes last? Usually, the depressive episode length ranges from six months to eight months, depending on the person. While some people may have depression that fades, others may struggle with depression on and off their whole life.
For example, depression is more common among women than men. The median age of onset for depression is 32 years, meaning that half of people who will ever have a depressive episode will have had their first episode by this age.