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In todays culture, it is common to hear individuals saying they are depressed whenever
they feel moody or sad. Do we really know what it means to be depressed? According to the
fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), a
depressed personor a person undergoing major depressive disorder (MDD)is one who
feels a depressed mood almost daily, a decrease in interest in the activities that he or she used
to enjoy, and often think that suicide is the only way out. One may experience insomnia and
go through a major weight loss. Therefore, what people think as depression is actually just
moodiness or sadness that does not require therapy. Now that we have defined depression
and described some of the symptoms, we can look at what causes depression and how to
prevent it.
The two main factors for depression that we will focus on are stress and negative thinking.
Everyone has experienced stress before, be it because of exams and a variety of other reasons.
We are usually able to cope with these stresses with our own methods. However, what
happens if we are not able to cope with and manage a high amount of stress? Well, studies
have shown that high amounts of stress are one of the elements that can lead to depression.
Stress by itself does not cause depression, but if an individual finds that they are not able to
overcome it and have to deal with it constantly, they may experience depression.
Negative thinking has also been shown to have a relationship to depression. The Tem-
ple-Wisconsin Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression Project was a study conducted to test if
negative thinking would affect university students and make them more likely to develop
depression. The results of the two and a half year study showed that individuals with more
negative thinking are more likely to develop depression. When individuals with negative
thinking encounter failure, they tend to look at their own weaknesses, without even finding
out if there are any other reasons that may have resulted in the failure. They tend to focus
more on the negative and tend to forget to look at their strengths as well.
Now that we have explored some of the factors of
depression, we can look at the two different methods
that we can use to lower the chances of getting de-
pression, namely exercise and positive thinking.
In the end, everyone wants to lead a happy life which is free of worries, but that is difficult to
achieve. However, by exercising and thinking positively, we can help to make ourselves feel
and be more content and thus lowering the chances of getting depression.
About the Author: Isaac is a writer for PSYCH magazine. He studied Business Informa-
tion Technology, was an Air Force Technician and holds a Degree in Psychology.
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