Korea ranks top in the suicide rate and the rate of increase among the OECD countries. Two-thirds of suicides in Korea are people who have had depression during their lifetime. Depression is predicted to be one of the three major diseases in 2030, we can say that it is enough to endanger people’s lives and it is common today. If so, what is the depression that gives bad effects to both patients and a society?
Depression is different from a simply depressed mood. Depression means a hard situation because of a depressed mood that continues for more than some weeks or months. Depression is not a simple mental disease, but a brain disease. There are many reasons, but the main reason is a decrease of serotonin, which is a kind of messenger for the nerves. People often confuse depression with manic-depression. However, a manic-depressive sickness is different from depression. It is because a manic-depressive sickness has a mania, which is not included in depression.
Depression patients feel gloomy, a sense of emptiness and feeling ineffectual. At the same time, they are not interested in daily life. Also, they go through a lack of sleep or excessive sleep. They undergo a change of weight because of a lack of appetite or voracious eating. Additionally, they become a taciturn person and lose concentration and the strength of their mind. As the situation becomes worse, some people plan suicide and follow through with it, so depression becomes a social problem.
Depression usually is divided into Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymia. Major Depressive Disorder is a serious situation where a depressed mood and a lack of interest lasts more than 2 weeks. On the other hand, Symptoms of Dysthymia are lighter than the Major Depressive Disorder.
Recently, the number of depression patients has been increasing sharply. There are many reasons, but the biggest reason is an excessive competition and a goal-achieving social atmosphere. In a society where people consider their friends as rivals, they get stressed and have mental diseases as a consequence. Even though the situation is very bad, why don’t you take time to look around in order to get out of your gloomy situation?