Depression

After Doug's parents divorced, his behavior started to change. He began to hang out with an older crowd, and eventually got involved in drinking and smoking marijuana. He would come home at all hours of the night, and refused to tell his mother where he had been. Doug blamed his mother for the breakup of his parents' marriage, and took his anger and frustration with the situation out on his mother by being verbally abusive and argumentative. After waiting for months for things to...
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After Doug's parents divorced, his behavior started to change. He began to hang out with an older crowd, and eventually got involved in drinking and smoking marijuana. He would come home at all hours of the night, and refused to tell his mother where he had been. Doug blamed his mother for the breakup of his parents' marriage, and took his anger and frustration with the situation out on his mother by being verbally abusive and argumentative. After waiting for months for things to improve, Doug's mother made an appointment with a psychologist, but Doug refused to go. After his lacrosse coach persuaded him to go, it was determined that Doug suffered from depression. After psychotherapy alone did not help, a psychiatrist found a medication that worked for Doug, and his depression started to lift. We tend to use the word "depressed" quite loosely these days-a story of song is depressing, we say we are depressed when things to wrong. But depression is a medical word. It is not simply feeling blue or disappointed. It is not even the intense grief experienced after the death of a loved one. Depression is the name for a cluster of signs and symptoms that affect a person's everyday functioning for an extended period of time. This book will educate you about this often-debilitating disorder. the case history will give you a greater understanding of depression and how it develops, as well as who is at risk and how it is treated. You will learn the symptoms: a change in weight or sleep habits, fatigue, sadness, irritability, and-in extreme cases-hallucinations and delusions. Knowing these signs and symptoms can help you recognize depression in yourself or in someone you care about. Depression can lead to other problems, specifically with drugs and alcohol, so it is important that those affected not be too embarrassed to seek help. Realizing that depression is a legitimate, diagnosable disorder is the first step in helping those affected by this confusing, misunderstood, and life-affecting condition.