Empty feeling due to depression

Depression changes a person’s life, and the most alarming effect is emotional numbness. Not feeling anything is intolerable.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder states that a Major Depressive Disorder is diagnosed if the patient experience depression, feeling no pleasure or interest most of the day in a daily basis for straight two weeks. The patient also needs to experience weight gain or weight loss, insomnia or excessive sleeping, physical weariness, energy loss, feeling worthless or guilty, unable to decide or concentrate, and constant thought of killing one’s self.

Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Women’s Mood Disorders Center Jennifer Payne at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is fascinated with the depression factors in the body. Depression can be seen or hidden from the patient’s family and friends, and it affects many aspects of a life.

According to David Spiegel, Stanford University professor and director of the Center on Stress and Health, depression can be treated.

Professor Nadine Kaslow from Emory University said that depression for some is genetically driven, and some are caused by outside stress factors.

Depression can also be caused by happy things. Author William Styron mentioned in his book “Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness” that he was feeling a panic dislocation amidst all the success and award he received.

Depression is not the fault of the patient. Depressed people cannot just pull themselves together in an instant and recover from depression. People who had never been depressed fail to grasp the concept of depression.

Matt Haig, a British author tweeted that people are at ease in talking about depression if the topic is in the past tense.

 Losing the ability to feel anything is never a good thing. It’s better to feel something than be dead inside.