A CLINICALLY depressed individual is likely to make a statement like this, "These days things have changed. In the mornings I don't want to get up and go to work. What I really feel like doing is pulling the sheets over my head and go back to bed. I have to force myself to get up and drag myself out of the bed..."
He might also have difficulty falling and staying asleep, not enjoy the foods he used to, have little or no sexual desire and pretend like he is not at home when friends drop by.
Clinical depression is not just a passing feeling of unhappiness or sadness, but a pervasive feeling of sadness accompanied by a thought pattern that sees every event as gloomy. Depression would not respond to good news and unlike grief over a death, it will not dissipate with time. Current theories say clinical depression may be associated with imbalance of chemicals in the brain and this affects the person's mood and disturbs sleep and appetite.
Many depressed people believe they have to endure this condition but in most people, it can be treated successfully, either with medication (usually antidepressants) or psychotherapy or both. Antidepressants affect brain chemistry and after several weeks can give relief to depressive symptoms.
