orthlessness change in sleeping patterns such as inability to sleep, sleeping significantly more, early morning awakening, or fitful sleep recurring thoughts of death or suicide feelings of unexplained guilt change in appetite and significant weight loss or gain loss of interest in activities once enjoyedA diagnosis of unipolar major depression is made if a person has at least five of these symptoms during a two-week period. Some of these symptoms may be more apparent than others. This may make it necessary to ask questions of someone that you think may be depressed in order to determine if they need to seek professional help.It would be good to know what the causes of depression are, but this is a subject still in debate and lacking any scientific evidence. Although an exact cause can not be revealed yet, there are a number of physical and psychological factors that may increase the chances for, coexist with, and even trigger a depressive disorder. Depression in the realm of physical illness is often unrecognized and therefore untreated even though it so often coexists with many other physical illnesses. Examples of these other illnesses are cancer, diabetes, heart disease and strokes. Depression can impair a patients ability to take medications and stay on treatment for their other illnesses. There are also a number of psychological factors that can trigger depression. If an individual experiences financial problems, a serious personal loss, physical illness, difficulty with relationships, or any other unwelcome change in their lives they are more likely to suffer from depression. Genetic factors are important as well and can increase ones probability for suffering from the illness. Studies done with identical twins, who have identical genetic material, show that if one twin is depressed there is a 70% chance that the other will also be depressed. Also, children and siblings of people with the disorder have been found to ha...
