by Erin Weatherhogg

Created on: September 10, 2009

As a 30-year-old woman who has struggled with clinical depression since my teens, I have intimate knowledge of the various and mystifying symptoms. I battled with it for over a decade before I even realized I had it, and as a result, I wasted a good chunk of my life living as a slave to the mood swings, fatigue, and restlessness it causes. With this piece, I hope to enlighten some of those who are not but should be, so that they may seek the help that may change their life.

Depression can manifest itself in many different ways. Some may experience just one of the core symptoms predominately, while others are inundated with every sign imaginable. Neither the latter nor the former are any less debilitating than the other, and the symptoms within one individual can even change and fluctuate over weeks, months, or years. A tendency toward clinical depression can be hereditary, though they do not always go hand-in-hand. Anyone is capable of developing it, whether it's in the family or not. But rest assured that you are not guaranteed to get it just because your parents or your aunt's cousin's great-grandma had it.

The causes of depression are numerous and complex, but it is widely thought that clinical depression is caused by the imbalance of chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters, specifically serotonin, the substance that contributes to our feelings of well-being, norepinephrine, which helps cause one to feel energetic, and dopamine, an essential chemical to the central nervous system. In a nutshell, if your brain does not produce enough of these neurotransmitters, or if they are not distributed correctly within the brain, you are considered depressed.

Depression is not always synonymous to sadness. Generally speaking, when you're sad, it tends to be for a specific reason; your dog ran away, or you got a bad grade on a test, for example. Depression, on the other hand, isn't necessarily caused by any outside influences. Sometimes, in fact very often, it just "is," which is what makes depression so mysterious and frightening.

Many people with clinical depression experience mood swings and unexplained feelings of despair and sadness. They sometimes anger easily, are impatient and irritable, or always have an underlying feeling of discontent, even when things seem to be going well in their life. One who is depressed can feel sad and unsatisfied even if they are with the partner of their dreams, have the career they always wanted, and live in their dream home.

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