History

Depression is not a new phenomenon. Depression has found portrayal in literature and arts for centuries. In the nineteenth century, doctors started viewing depression as an inherited
weakness of temperament. In the first half of last century, the famous psychiatrist Freud linked the development of depression to guilt and conflict. Last some decades have seen
focus being shifted from the cause of depression to its effect on the afflicted people.

Causes

Depression is a multi-faceted problem. The different factors that play role can be genetics, environment, life events, medical conditions,…These are discussed in short below.

Genetics

People with faulty genes are more likely to get depressed. Having said this, there are cases when people with genetic makeup for depression have not got depressed. Also, there are
cases of people with no such history in family, and still they have got depressed.

Life Events

The death of near one can go beyond normal grief and sometimes lead to depression. Other difficult life events, such as when parents divorce, family disputes can trigger depression. Even situation like long period of unemployment, financial crisis can lead to depression.

Family and Social Environment

Situations such as poverty, homelessness and disputes in family can lead to depression. In fact, any negative, stressful, or unhappy family atmosphere can be the cause of depression.
Use of alcohol and some drugs is known to lead to depression.

Medical Conditions

Some medical conditions can disturb hormone balance and consequently affect mood. Hypothyroidism is known to lead to depression. On being treated of such disorders, depression
also is cured of its own.

Treatment

Depression needs to be treated by a psychiatrist. The doctor makes physical examination and reviews medical and psychiatric history and makes mental status examination.Sometimes
depressive symptoms are caused by a neurological disorder. So neurological examination should be done to make sure that the cause is not neurological. The doctor also asks if there
is any family history of this disorder, as depression can also be genetic. In severe depression patient may attempt suicide. Such patients need to be hospitalized till the danger is over.

Each case of depression has to be tackled differently. So the treatment is tailor-made. It also helps to take some help of a psychotherapist. in addition to a psychiatrist..
Antidepressant drugs are also available for fighting depression. These are
* selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
* tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs).

What It Is:

Stammering is “characterized by stoppages and disruptions in fluency which interrupt the smooth flow and timing of speech. These stoppages may take the form of repetitions of sounds, syllables or words, or of prolongations of sounds so that words seem to be stretched out, and can involve silent blocking of the airflow of speech when no sound is heard” (Enderby, 1996). Speech may sound forced, tense or jerky. People who stammer may avoid certain words or situations which they know will cause them difficulty. Stammering is a British word. Instead, Americans use the word “stuttering”.

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Late adolescence and early adulthood are peak years for the onset of schizophrenia. These are critical periods in a young adult’s social and vocational development, and they can be severely disrupted by disease onset. A person experiencing schizophrenia may demonstrate symptoms such as disorganized thinking, auditory hallucinations, and delusions.  In severe cases, the person may be largely mute, remain motionless in bizarre postures, or exhibit purposeless agitation. Social isolation commonly occurs and may be due to a number of factors. Impairment in social cognition is associated with schizophrenia, as are the active symptoms of paranoia from delusions and hallucinations, and the negative symptoms of apathy . Many people diagnosed with schizophrenia avoid potentially stressful social situations that may exacerbate mental distress. People have written books and made films on this problem. Nobel laureate mathematician John Nash’s life has been captured in book and film “A Beautiful Mind”. Another such book is “Tell me I’m Here” ,written by Australian journalist Anne Deveson. In this book the authoress tells the story of her son’s battle with schizophrenia. This book too was later made into a movie. There is a Marathi film “Devrai” that tries to portray a schizophrenia patient’s behavior, mentality and struggle along with that of his loved ones. Medication, dedication and patience of close relatives finally treats the patient.

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Universal headache problems can be cured by applying certain pain relief ointment like balms. But migraine headache is a severe one which is ultimately required to consume pain killers or prescribed medication.

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Sonography of heart can provide a visual image of a heart beat and circulation in real time. In fact, the latest ultrasound technologies of heart can provide three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) images.

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Dry Skin-Should Be Taken Care Of

You must have noticed that you don’t suit the same skin scream as do your friend. This is because your friend skin may be different from yours. Usually there are two major types of skin classified; dry skin and oily skin. Oily skin mostly suffer from frequent pimple problems, whereas dry skin need to apply moisturizers frequently. There by dry skin are very much sensitive to any extreme conditions like sunlight, high temperature etc. This is because of the low quantity of sebum of the skin.

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The most important challenge to the youth today is facing the interview. It is very important for oneself to give-up all the shyness and build up self -confidence. One can make-up the personality by controlling one’s concealed self. Self-control help’s one to become mentally as well as emotionally strong.

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Any of the under mentioned diabetes symptoms present in your life?
1. Recurrent urinations.
2. Irritability
3. Excessive hunger
4. Abnormal weight loss
5. Elevated tiredness
6. Too much thirst
7. Blurred vision

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The physical characteristics of diabetes are well chronicled. The emotional aspects may not be so good. Here is a small list of the feelings I experienced and the influence they had on me.

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How can you evaluate depression against that of ups and downs, is there any similarities? Affirmatively, Ups and downs are just that, where as depression has its ups and downs in a way that it turns your whole world upside down.

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