so a while back i had a conversation with a friend debating weather depression was an illness or an emotion.

her side was that it was an illness.
because people are supposibly happy atleast until theres an actual reason to be sad.
and the people who are depressed are ill.

i dont quite remember why she said they were ill.


but i personally think its an emotion.
because depression/sadness are pretty much the same thing to me.
depression is something you feel. for instence happiness its an emotion.
would someone consider sadness an illness?
i dont think so...



your opinions?

This is a false dichotomy.
Clinical depression can be both conditional (emotion) and biological (illness).
In case of a conditional depression, we would be looking at psychological factors.
In case of a biological depression, we would imagine an imediate problem with neurotransmitters and the brain.
Although neither are extensively researched and defined, both have been discovered as very plausible causes for forms of clinical depression.

it's both.

Speaking of illness, there are two molecules in your body to balance your mood.
Speaking of emotion, mood is an emotion.

Both, like Nate and I don't know Spiritual Winged Aura name

Pretty much Nate summed up the facts.

http://www.healthyplace.com/COMMUNITIES/de...sion/causes.asp

I'm Steven ;]

hello holly !

It's an excessive emotion, leading to the illness. The only recovery to depression is to solve the problems that are causing you to feel this certain way. If there is however, no problem, then I guess you're screwed. That's the suckiness about it, and it isn't easy to deal with, at all.

It's something people feel, thus it's an emotion.

well i was diagnosied with major deppressive disorder and i can't do anything about it atleast that's what the psycologist said so i take medicine.



but yeah it's cause i have a chemical imbalance.

How does that work exactly?

your talking to me right? well i don't understand the question fully but the medicine helps balance the chemicals in my brain.? sorry i dont understand the question.

How do the "chemicals in your brain imbalance"?

Carefully. ;)

Don't spam, just answer the question. If you don't know the answer, don't reply.

You would know that there are other reasons to depression. Most of the time when people 'Feel' depressed it's not really depression. It's just an episode of sadness. Yeah, my grandfather died. I feel sad. Sadness is an emotion. Therefore I'm depressed according to your logic.

Yeah there is feeling involved, but where does that feeling coming from? The feeling alone is not depression. Depression doesn't mean sadness, depression means there's a lack of something. It's being depressed. A chemical imbalance, and such.

Don't tell me how I can post unless you are a mod.

umm well your just not born with enough seretonin in your body and your body doesn't produce enough of it there for you have problems but mine is very mild. i only have depression and it causes me not to sleep so i have to take a sleeping medication too. i hate some psycologists expecially the ones that think if you want to lose a couple of pounds you have an eating disorder.

There's a difference between "healthy sadness" and depression. It's natural to feel sad about certain events: a family member or friend dying, failing to achieve an important goal, losing your job, etc. This is normal.

What is not normal are lingering feelings of sadness for no reason. My own dealings with depression have lead me to believe that it is a combination of both mental and biochemical factors. I think that biochemistry—a chemical imbalance in the brain—greatly predisposes a person to depression, although it takes an environmental trigger—mental factors, or feelings—to trigger this response. I think overcoming depression takes a combination of behavioral/mental therapy and chemical therapy (i.e. antidepressants).

This idea is similar to genetics. Genes don't cause diseases; they just predispose one to certain risks.

^ exacly i mean i don't think people should like get special treatment cause of deppression just because of it being an illness but i think it is an illness!

Emotion..you can get over depression by yourself. Mind over matter.

Well I have depression and I think of it as an illness\, because I wasn't always like this. Sadness is just like a once in a while thing llike after your dog died or your boyfriend broke up with you. Depression is exsessive/ persistent sadness that won't go away. It is also caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain. So for me sadness is for like an hour or for a few days and you know why you're sad. Depression is for weeks, maybe months and you don't even know why you feel like you do. It's a fustrating thing to live with.

Depression = illness (for me at least)

i think its a sickness becaus eit effects everything that you do and the people around you.

How on earth does that automatically make it an illness only? Moods can do that too. You could be in an extremely bad mood one day. This could make you perform badly at work or school because you can't take your mind off of whatever is angering you. You might talk to people differently because you're ticked, you might take it out on them. This could in turn put them in a bad mood, too. Isn't that affecting what you do & those around you as well?

What do I think? It's both, duh. It's a chemical imbalance in the brain, something that someone cannot help. But on the other hand, someone could one day be feeling really, really down. A kid could be depressed that his parents are divorcing, perhaps. It doesn't mean there's anything biologically wrong with him.

its a chemical imbalance so yeah i guess its an illness

This highlights the difference between "healthy sadness" and depression. Any mental health therapist will point out that merely being sad doesn't qualify as "depression", and there are times where it's perfectly normal and healthy to be sad. Events such as a parents' divorce, a friend or family member dying, losing one's job, and so forth are all causes for sadness. Depression, however, is entirely different—it's sadness without any meaningful stimulus.

In fact, the key word to associate with depression is not sadness, but apathy. Most sufferers of depression seem "down" not because of sadness per se, but an extremely apathetic view towards life. In that vein, many of them who have suicidal tendencies do so not because they're sad, but because they don't see a point to, or meaning in, life.

So, depression or illness? I'm inclined, from my own experiences with depression, to say disease. However, it's important to note that the disease is not merely one of a biochemical nature, nor is it purely one of the environment, but a bit of both. I believe some individuals are predisposed due to chemical imbalances, but it takes an environmental trigger to set it off. Likewise, treating the biochemical signature of the disease is generally ineffective—traditional therapy goes hand-in-hand with treating depression.

i think it`s all in your mind.

its both.
its a some sort of chemical inbalance in the brain, but is kicked off by some tragic event.

im pretty sure...but i do know it is an illness. they do studies.