Professor Noel-Williams
English 1113
25 November 2013
Depression
Depression is a mental illness caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Scans on patients with clinical depression showed that they had less brain volume in several regions, including the frontal lobe, basal ganglia and hippocampus than normal, non-depressed patients. Depression can affect the way a person sleeps, eats, and functions on a daily basis. People with depression often have feeling of hopelessness, lack of energy, and they take no pleasure in things that normal people enjoy. A depressed person usually lacks motivation to do nearly anything, even the basic everyday must-do’s. Major depression is a disease that affects 5 percent of the global population (Depression’s Chemical Imbalance Explained | Psych Central News). Some people may only experience depression during and after a traumatic event, but most depressed people have to deal with the illness for a lifetime. Depression is a mental illness because it is a disease that attacks and affects the brain. Many people believe that when an ill person says that they’re depressed, all the sick person is doing is trying to get attention. Many people say that sick people reach out for help just for the attention. People don’t believe that depression is a real illness; they think that the people that claim to have the illness are just attention-seekers. While they may be wanting attention, a depressed person reaching out is also a cry for help. They obviously know something is not right, so they say something. It’s not for attention, it is to get help. Many depressed people are scared of themselves. They are scared about the harm that they can cause and they reach out for help before they can hurt themselves. Untreated depression is the number one risk for suicide among youth. They try to reach out but are made fun of and are called “fakers” and are said to be seeking attention, when all they really want is help.