An Inside Look At Different Stages Of Depression

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Stages of Depression Depression is not something you can catch from another person, or a rash that pops up on your chest that can go away in a few days. Depression is a mental health disorder that is characterized by depressed moods or loss of interest to do daily activities. The illness prolongs as time progresses if the individual does not seek medical help from a doctor or a therapist. About twenty-five million Americans are diagnosed with depression each year and over fifty percent of all people who die from committing suicide suffered from depression (Shevtsova). There are several stages that divide depression into different categories that specify the symptoms and their intensity. The first stage is known as the denial stage, …show more content…

The body has a hormone called serotonin that elicits feelings of happiness. As the person suffers more and more from depression, the serotonin levels in the body start to decrease and the depressed person begins to resist the things the body needs to survive, such as food. As the individual lacks more of an appetite, the body starts to lose weight, causing the disease to worsen and create more problems on the person suffering. The effects of the lack of appetite leads to not just having sleeping problems, but it leads to insomnia that can last for several days. Insomnia not only creates issues to stay asleep, but it starts to take a toll on the individual, how they think, and how they control their emotions and behaviors. This can cause the depressed person to start to hallucinate, allowing them to reevaluate their existence and come up with ways to end the illness. During the second stage of depression, almost eighty percent of the people attempt to commit suicide. The individual cannot overcome the disease by themselves and will most likely need to seek medical attention to get the illness under control. The toll depression has on the body during the second stage is major and the body will not be able to handle little tasks or focus on something for a long period of time. A person suffering from this can experience frustration causing them to be aggressive and lash out on people over small debates. The second stage of depression creates internal and self-conflicting issues on a suffering person that may last for some