Depression is a mental illness that impacts millions of people. It affects the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. Depression is more intense than the experience of sadness. Important symptoms of depression include low mood, loss of pleasure, weight loss or gain, low energy, and feelings of hopelessness. These symptoms last over 2 weeks and interfere with a person's daily activities. Depression affects the depressed person, the person's family, and the community. In the United States, over 80 billion dollars a year is spent on depression. Most important, depression can be fatal, so it requires as much care as a serious physical illness.
We need to understand the causes of depression. This need has prompted decades of study. Research now shows that many factors contribute to depression. Of the known factors, stress is very important. Stress can cause depression over time.

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Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00137