Depression is a word that is used by many people but understood by few. It is often taken and of context and interpreted as a bad day at work or an argument with a spouse. However, chances are that it is just an unhappy event of such. For some people, though, depression is a serious everyday terror. In some extreme cases, suicide becomes the only way for the sufferer to cope. This is why it is important to understand what depression is, and become educated on it, so that in the future someone with depression can find other means of coping, rather than suicide.
             According to the American Medical Association (AMA), depression is,A type of mental disorder that disturbs a person's mood,? (Dickey 1998). A simpler definition would be,Misery requiring treatment.? This was said by Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Ned Gassem (Hales 1995). Depression is not the simple ups and downs of everyday life. Every person experiences grief from time to time (Bloomfield 1996). True depression is an illness. It is a long lasting illness that can consume every aspect of a person's life (Dickey 1998).
             Each year in America depression effects more than seventeen million people. It is one of the most common illnesses in humans, and effects twenty percent of the United States population and worldwide. (Ainsworth 2000) Depression affects many aspects of an affected person's life. It can affect the way you think, act, feel, look and behave. It is a very strong and power illness that is not fully understood by many, even those affected with it personally.
             In general as many as one in five people may, in their lifetime, suffer from a depressive illness, although most will not seek treatment. (Ainsworth 2000) What is even more amazing is that in any given year about seventeen point five million American adults - which are close to ten percent of the population - will suffer from depression (Dickey 1998). Furthermore, one person in every five fa...