Depression And Healthcare

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             Dysthymia is a neurotic depression, which is not caused by a sudden behavioral change, but rather has dragged on for many years in a person's life. Their symptoms may severely heighten for a while and then return to their normal reduced level. People, who are affiliated with this, are said to have "double depression;" dysthymia plus major depression. People who have dysthymic depression will have a higher risk of recurring episodes of major depression.
             Bipolar disorder, which is also known as manic-depressive disorder, alternates between bouts of depression and bouts of mania. People with mania typically have increased energy, talking, physical, mental and social activity. They take risks and have unrealistic beliefs in their own abilities. Their need for sleep may decrease and their moods may elevate or become irritable, they can also have aggressive responses to frustrations. "In extreme cases, individuals with bipolar illness may experience thought disorder, jumping from one idea to another with no apparent connection, sometimes to the point of delusions and hallucinations. Depressive delusions represent exaggerated feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, or guilt, such as feeling responsible for all the evil in the world" (Sergant 5). .
             Depression is a medical condition that is all too often thought of as a defect in character. Depression will affect one out of every five people in the US. Although depression is often thought of as the common cold of mental illness, the disease is actually quite complex; it has both physiological and psychological causes, and can take many years to overcome. Depression is not a selective disease, it affects people of all ages, races and socioeconomic backgrounds; however, women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression. .
             "A 1982 study of 3,000 children found that almost 15 percent of them had symptoms of depression; the same study found that by age 15, one out of every five children are depressed.