How many does it affect?

According to a research conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2013, it is estimated that 400 million people, about 7% of the world population, suffer from depression every year. At the time, there were more than 850,000 suicides per year on account of depression. This data was revealed by the former Secretary General of the United Nations, at the opening of the seminar "Depression Global Crisis" organized by the British magazine "The Economist".

In Brazil, the very optimistic estimate was that about 10% of the population suffered from depression. It is optimistic because the number is based on people already diagnosed. But most of the depressed people had not yet been diagnosed, and many do not even know they suffer from depression. This often represents a lack of treatment or poorly suited therapy.

This index, however, goes up to 18% of the Brazilian population, according to a study by the Institute of Psychiatry, University of Sao Paulo that assessed the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the metropolitan area of the city, based on 5,037 interviews, with questions capable of revealing if the interviewee passes or has passed by this condition.

The fact is that "severe depression appears to be a public health problem in all regions of the world," as concluded by the last report on this disorder made by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 18 countries, of high and low income, including Brazil, at the end of 2011.

According to the report, approximately 14.6% of the population of high-income countries has had depression at some point in life. Among the low-income groups, and average of 11.1% of the people had the disorder at some point.

If we consider the Megacity research data and project it for Brazil, we have over 36 million people affected by depression, in various degrees, at some point in life. Many of them became incapacitated for a productive life and had serious difficulties in family relationships. The World Health Organization (WHO) projected that in 2030 depression will be the one of the leading causes of disability in the world. But it revised its conclusions, and stated that in 2030 it could be the first.

In addition, the researchers observed that, in richer countries, the average age when the depressive episodes occurs is 25.7 years, against the 24 years of the least developed countries, where Brazil is included. In countries with high income young people are the most vulnerable group. In other countries the elderly were more likely to become depressed.

In both groups - young and old - the separation of a partner was the most important factor. The occurrence was twice as high in women and the functional disability was associated with the recent manifestations of depression.

How to tell if someone or we ourselves are depressed?

 

We can tell if someone is actually depressed and needs treatment, when we notice that, for more than two weeks, the person:

 

• Feels sad most of the time, and nearly every day;

• Blames herself for being ill, for others' problems and for her past problems too;

• Does not feel like (in no mood) doing the usual daily tasks, either working out or looking after the children and doing essential tasks - things that normally she would do with no difficulty at all and even with pleasure;

• Feels like escaping from life, and prefers to stay alone as much as possible, avoiding any social contact;

• When she wakes up, she does not feel like getting out of bed;

• Suffers of insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping too much);

• Feels worthless, useless, and despises her own self;

• Lost her libido;

• She has no hope that things will improve.

 

The person with depression may also have unjustified crying spells, wishes to die, shows irritability, difficulty in making decisions, starting and/or finishing started tasks.

Those who are depressed feel very sad and have negative thoughts about themselves and about life in general. They may also feel palpitations (heart discomfort), constipation, headaches and digestive difficulties. They feel no energy to do what has to be done, have difficulty to concentrate, changes in appetite, feel slow to engage in physical and mental activities. It may be that the person does not have all of these symptoms, and if she has most of them, they may not occur simultaneously.

Usually depressed people think this is a passing difficulty and have difficulty in admitting that they are ill and need the help of an expert, such as a psychiatrist or a psychologist.

There are periods when they feel better or worse and this is frequent and, many times, it is an excuse not to look for appropriate treatment. The decision comes only when symptoms are severe and social and family life become almost unbearable.

 

Causes of Depression

 

To better understand what causes depression, we can classify it into three groups:

 

In the first group we have the depression triggered by external factors (exogenous depression): separation of couples, loss of loved ones, loss of job and consequent difficulty in getting another job, living situations of extreme stress for a relatively long period (take care of sick and dependent people, a violent marital relationship), frustration involving personal goals considered fundamental in life. We can also include here a type of depression associated with menopause, and another one associated with retirement, mainly affecting men. This occurs when both look ahead and see no satisfactory life ahead, whether due to financial matters, or because they feel useless, and feel insecurity/fear regarding their future.

 

In the second group, depression is triggered by diseases that disable the individual, partially or completely, such as a stroke, cancer, autoimmune diseases, limb loss, sight or hearing problems, chemical dependency, and hypothyroidism.

 

The third group includes, and this is my personal opinion, depression of spiritual nature, which may be related to this life or to previous lives, such as:

 

1) The ones who committed suicide in a previous life. When they reach an age close to the age when they committed suicide, the previous suffering begins to torment them, causing a strong depression, which can lead them to repeat suicide.

2) Spirits who feel deep in their soul that they betrayed the goals for which they came into this life, and chose the material success path, sometimes using unethical or unlawful means. Most of them live in anguish, feel guilty and remorse for attitudes toward creatures whose trust they betrayed or abandoned throughout this life.

3) Spirits who consider earthly existence a suffering stage are harder to adapt to life, to choose a career and to fight for professional success to keep a love relationship for a reasonable time. They are very pessimistic about life and their own possibilities and this keeps them far from friends and affections, leading them to an extreme solitude. Many of the depressed young people fall into this condition.

4) Spirits, who unconsciously have a sense of guilt and remorse for an act committed in their previous lives, which are exploited by their victims of the past, today cruel executioners thirsting for revenge. These obsessive spirits inflict on their victims their "iron will, and raise in them the deep unconscious memories, which are numb in the brain, disclosing sad events that make them delirious, fighting these previous memories, as well as the current ones. This condition can result in very serious schizophrenia, reported by the Spirit Victor Hugo through the psychic Divaldo Franco, in his book "Arduous Ascension".

In all groups, the medicine detects a cerebral deficiency of certain neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and others. Personally, I do not see this deficiency of neurotransmitters as a cause of depression, but as a consequence.

Getting help to cope with depression 

The ills of mind are the most damaging and limiting among all disease groups. In the group of mental illness depression is now the most disabling disease, according to the latest WHO data presented by Dr. Hans Ulrich Wittchen, Director of the Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Institute of the Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany.

So if depression is severe, we must be strong enough to recognize that we need the help of a specialized doctor, either a psychiatrist or a psychologist to complement the treatment. Depression can: lead to functional disability, to family relationships compromised irreversibly and even lead to suicide. The faster we recognize and treat the disease, less we shall suffer and faster we can get out of it. (Continued in the next issue.)