- I don't need help; I can handle it myself, but I'm just so tired
- What if someone I know finds out I'm depressed? They will think I'm crazy
- I'm getting old, that's why I can't sleep
- Eating is difficult, nothing tastes good, and I just don't feel like cooking anymore
- I'm just a worrywart; I worry about everyone and everything
- Fun? What is fun anymore? I can't do what I used to do, so why do anything
- I don't feel like going out with my friends or family; it's too much trouble
- If I read a book or watch TV my mind wanders, and I can't remember the story
The things that happen in your brain play a role in whether you feel happy or sad, peppy or lethargic. It influences how you feel when getting out of bed in the morning, whether you'd rather "seize the day" or be seized by it. It's your central command, your very own computer, your powerhouse and personality.
Depression may be the wrong word for this illness of the brain. It might be more accurate to call it "brain-slow-down" illness.
Individuals diagnosed with major depression by a psychiatrist often take anti-depression medications. They get better because their brains respond to the medication. They don't get better because they wake up one day and decide "enough of this bad mood; I'm going to make myself feel the way I used to feel."
It doesn't work that way. You can't wish away a heart condition, diabetes or high blood pressure, and you can't wish away a brain illness. Although illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes can contribute to depression.
WUSM is studying how part of the brain -- the hippocampus -- shrinks with depression. The hippocampus is responsible for memory and emotions. The depression that happens to older adults who have these medical illnesses "vascular depression." Research is needed to determine if treatment with anti-depressant medicines will correct the problem.
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