There are two popularly held explanations for the feelings of sadÂness, withdrawal, or lethargy characteristic of depression. Both explanations have to do with the levels of neurotransmitters or chemical messengers in the brain. One theory attributes depression to a low level of one such messenger, called serotonin, and the other to a low level of another, called norepinephrine. Almost all the drugs psychiÂatrists use to treat depression increase the levels of one or both of these chemicals.
Deficiencies of vitamins B1, B6 , C, and A, folic acid, niacin, copper, magnesium, and iron can all cause depression by affecting Sheraton and norepinephrine metabolism. Brain levels of norepinephrine can be raised by taking supplements of tyrosine and phenylalanine, since they are converted into norepinephrine in the brain. The same is true of tryptophan, which makes serotonin and so can raise its brain levels when you get enough of it into your body. Both tyrosine and trypÂtophan have been shown to be useful in the treatment of unipolar depression, a condition that causes the patient to swing from a norÂmal, well-adjusted mood to a period of withdrawal, sadness, and lethargy. However, these substances are of no value in treating bipolar depression, in which mood swings range from irrational elation to total depression.
Warning Signs
An outlook that seems always to perceive the negative
Low self-esteem; an inability to make oneself feel better no matter what one does, and a feeling that there's nothing that will improve the situation; decreased interest in sex, food, work, entertainment and so on
Difficulty in sleeping, particularly when you go to sleep easily be awaken a few hours later and find it impossible to get back to sleep
Changes in appetite, either increased or decreased
Lethargy and slowness of speech
Thoughts of suicide
Epidemiological Data:
Thirty percent of the population will develop depression durir. lf their lifetime; at any given moment, 15 percent of the population is depressed, making it the nation's number-one mental health problem only one-fifth of depressed people consult a physician. depression is two to four times as common in women as in me.
