words for me: Feb 10, 2007

Depression is very common and affects as many as one in eight people in their teen years. Depression affects people of every color, race, economic status, or age; however, it does seem to affect more females than males during adolescence and adulthood.

Why Do People Get Depressed?
There is no single cause for depression. Many factors play a role including genetics, environment, medical conditions, life events, and certain thinking patterns that affect a person's reaction to events.
Research has revealed that depression runs in families and suggests that some people inherit genes that make it more likely for them to get depressed. But not everyone who has the genetic makeup for depression actually gets depression. And many people who have no family history of depression have the condition. So, although genes are one factor, they aren't the single cause of depression.
Life events - for example, the death of a close family member or friend - can go beyond normal grief and can sometimes lead to depression.
Family and social environment also play a role. For some teens, a negative, stressful, or unhappy family atmosphere can affect their self-esteem and lead to depression.

Types of Depression
For some people, depression can be intense and occur in bouts that last for weeks at a time. For others, depression can be less severe but can linger at a low level for years.
Doctors who treat depression distinguish between these two forms, diagnosing the more severe, short-lasting form as major depression, and the longer-lasting but less severe form as dysthymia.
A third form of depression that may be diagnosed is called adjustment disorder with depressed mood. It refers to a depressive reaction to a specific life event (such as a death, divorce, or other loss) when the adjustment to the loss takes longer than the normally expected time frame or is more severe than expected and interferes with the person's daily activities.
Bipolar disorder (also sometimes called manic depressive illness) is another depressive condition that involves periods of major depression mixed with periods of mania. Mania is the term for abnormally high mood and extreme bursts of unusual activity or energy.