Depressive illness has been known since biblical times. The word depression comes from the Latin word deprimere (to press down). Thus it means feeling pressed down, sad or low. In the late Middle Ages, religious leaders believed depression was caused by posession of evil spirits. The German religious reformer Martin Luther wrote "All heaviness of the mind and melancholy comes of the Devil." Through the years depression has been treated with such remedies as whipping, bloodletting, exorcism and soothing baths. By the 1960s, antidepressant medications were discovered that relieved depression by correcting chemical imbalances in the brain and because of that many scientists started to believe that depression was caused by neurochemical imbalances rather than psychological traumas. It has never been proven what really causes depression, the modern belief is in the combination of both causes. Until 1980s, psychiatrists did not believe that children and teenagers could suffer from depression. They thought that true depression can not exist before person develops idealized self-image (called the supergo), but tests and surveys have shown otherwise, that also strengthens the chemical theoryDEPRESSED OR JUST FEELING SAD?It is very important to distinguish depression from normal state of feeling sad. Sad mood can be instantly relieved by something good or exciting happening while a truly depressed person could be given a free car of his/her choice and still feel sad. As you read above, depression means long and hopeless sadness. If depression grows untreated, sufferers feel more and more hopeless and helpless, they feel as there's no one or nothing that can help them to be happy again, they believe that things will only get worse, never better. In some really severe cases depressants find that any ordinary activity such as getting out of bed, eating or even talking requires enormous energy. Eventually, these individuals have no desire to do any...
