Depression is categorized by doctors as a mental health disorder even though it does have physical components. It is a disease; it isn’t “just all in your head” and it is not simply a matter of needing to cheer up. Depression is more than just a feeling of sadness. Depression is usually considered to be a feeling of apathy towards life in general or a feeling of not caring about things that persists for more than two weeks.

Depression can be hard to diagnose as a condition because everyone feels sad or apathetic towards life at some time, usually after a major life change or a traumatic event.

There are many different symptoms that are associated with depression and each person experiences those symptoms differently. Because each person responds in a unique way to depression, it can be hard to find a therapy that will help each person deal with the symptoms of depression and people that are suffering from depression may need to try several different medications before finding one that helps them.

Depression can also be a symptom of other illnesses. When depression is combined with another illness it can be difficult for doctors to know if the depression is only being caused by the other ailment or if the depression is a separate condition.

Doctors have found that depression is often a problem for people that suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, social phobia, anxiety, panic, and sometimes even substance abuse.

There are also five different types of depression. Some, like clinical depression, can last over a period of years while others like Seasonal Affective Disorder or postpartum depression are relatively short-lived because they are tied to cycles of life. Depression tied to recent life events, such as a tragedy, are also short-lived.

People trapped in this vicious cycle usually end up needing treatment for the underlying depression even more than they did before they started trying to get rid of their symptoms with drugs and alcohol.

People that suffer from depression are statistically more likely to also have substance abuse problems because they will often try to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol to alleviate the symptoms of their depression. Since drugs and alcohol actually tend to intensify the symptoms of depression instead of stopping them it becomes a vicious cycle of depression and dependency.

Because each person experiences depression in a different way doctors often have trouble diagnosing depression. Some studies have estimated that more than 15 million people suffer from undiagnosed depression in the United States alone every year.