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It can be frustrating. First you’re told you have the disease known as “depression,” and then you’re told that antidepressant medicines will not begin to make you feel better right away. Unfortunately, it takes a while before you notice an improvement.
While you’re waiting, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The unhappiness and lack of appetite for life that may have plagued you now has a name –depression - and a treatment plan. That is a simple fact that you can remind yourself of when you need to. It may take a month or even longer to have significant relief from depression. But most cases of depression can be successfully treated – to the great relief of those affected.
It was once believed that emotional problems were the main cause of depression. At first glance, feeling depressed seems similar to being in a bad mood. Many of the signs are the same: irritability, low energy, and sadness.
But while a bad mood generally lasts only a few hours or perhaps days, depression goes on and on and can’t be shaken. That’s because the symptoms of depression have been associated with chemical changes in the brain. Depression is a serious medical problem that is not the same thing as feeling unhappy or having the blues. For some people, it can start suddenly, but for others, it comes on so slowly they’re sure they always felt this way.
