It is not the same as being unhappy or in a blue mood. Nor is it a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people who suffer from depression. During any one year period, 17.6 million American adults or 10 percent of the population suffer from depressive illness.
Depressive disorders come in different forms, just as do other illnesses, such as heart disease.
These disabling episodes of depression can occur once, twice, or several times in a lifetime. Sometimes people with dysthymia also experience major depressive episodes. Within these types there are variations in the number of symptoms, their severity, and persistence. In general, nearly everyone suffering from depression has ongoing feelings of sadness, and may feel helpless, hopeless, and irritable. Generally, based on the outcome of evaluations, treatment for depressive disorders includes medication or psychotherapy, or a combination of the two.