Those who have suffered from depression include Sir Winston Churchill and Florence Nightingale. Anyone can suffer from depression. Most people only suffer two or three of these symptoms at any one time. People with severe depression may also experience suicidal feelings, stop eating or drinking and suffer from delusions or hallucinations. Many people who need treatment for depression suffer further bouts later in life.
Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression, but three times as many men commit suicide.
Experts say this could be because women are more likely to admit to depression because of the stigma attached to mental illness. There are many different types of depression, including clinically diagnosed depression, manic depression and post-natal depression. Manic depression is marked by extreme mood swings, between highs when a person experiences excessive energy and optimism and lows when they may feel total despair and lack of energy. It is often treated with lithium or, in extreme cases, electro-convulsive therapy. Post-natal depression can occur from about two weeks after the birth of a child to two years after and differs from the mood swings suffered by many in the first few days after the child is born.