Alcohol is one teratogen that could greatly have an effect on the woman’s pregnancy. People may not be aware of its danger and still allow a woman to drink alcoholic drinks during her pregnancy, but the effect of this would be carried by the baby for the rest of his or her life. In the United States, alcohol is the substance very famous to cause mental and physical birth defects. Though, this is only a possibility, the rate is high.

For one, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a disorder that can occur to the embryo when a pregnant woman ingests alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol crosses the placental barrier and can inhibit fetal weight, create distinctive facial stigmata, damage neurons and brain structures, and cause other physical, mental, or behavioral problems. The main effect of FAS is enduring central nervous system damage, especially to the brain. Developing brain cells and structures are underdeveloped by prenatal alcohol exposure, often creating a collection of primary cognitive and functional disabilities including poor memory, attention deficits, impulsive behavior, and poor cause-effect reasoning, as well as secondary disabilities for example, mental health problems, and drug addiction.

The signs and symptoms of a having fetal alcohol syndrome are low birth mass, small head circumference, developmental interruption, organ dysfunction, facial abnormalities, including smaller eye openings, flattened cheekbones, and indistinguishable philtrum (an underdeveloped groove between the nose and the upper lip), epilepsy, poor management, poor socialization skills, such as difficulty building and maintaining friendships and relating to groups, lack of curiosity, learning difficulties, including poor memory, inability to understand concepts such as time and money, poor language comprehension, poor problem-solving skills, behavioral problems including hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, social withdrawal, stubbornness, impulsiveness, and anxiety.

As said earlier, damage of the central nervous system is the main feature of fetal alcohol syndrome. Central nervous system damage can be assessed in three areas such as structural, neurological, and functional impairments. Structural impairments may include microcephaly (small head size) of two or more standard deviations below the average, or other abnormalities in brain structure. During the first trimester of pregnancy, alcohol interferes with the migration and organization of brain cells, which can create structural deformities within the brain. During the third trimester, damage can be caused to the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory, learning, emotion, and encoding visual and auditory information, all of which can create neurological and functional CNS impairments as well.

When structural impairments are not observable, neurological impairments are assessed. Neurological problems are expressed as either hard signs, such as epilepsy or other seizure disorders, or soft signs. Soft signs are broader, nonspecific symptoms, such as impaired fine motor skills, neurosensory hearing loss, poor gait, clumsiness, poor eye-hand coordination.

Functional impairments are assessed when structural or neurological impairments does not exist. Functional impairments are delays due to prenatal alcohol exposure (rather than hereditary causes or postnatal insults) in observable and measurable domains related to daily functioning, often referred to as developmental disabilities.

The production of birth deficiencies is not a measure on the amount of alcohol being ingested. There are differences in the processing’s of alcohol in women. Other factors differ the results, too, such as the age of the mother, the timing and regularity of the alcohol ingestion, and whether the mother has eaten any food while drinking.

Alcohol easily goes through the placental barrier and the fetus is not at all equipped to eliminate alcohol than its mother, so the fetus tends to obtain a high concentration of alcohol, which lingers longer than it would in the mother’s system. That explains why the child is the one largely affected when in fact it is the mother who consumes the alcohol. Unfortunately true.

There comes a time that the addict tries to look for help. He looks for the aid of an expert to intoxicate him from the drug. Rehabilitation centers give help to those who have substance use problems. They provide medical help as well as psychological and social reformation. However, rehabilitation may not be sufficient for the full recovery of the person. The patient should be prepared with the right values and skills in facing the real world after rehabilitation.

Groups such as alcoholics anonymous, emotions anonymous, and cocaine anonymous are fellowship groups that provide spiritual enhancement and life skills program to people who wish to receive them. Anybody who is willing to modify and turn away from such addictions or someone who merely wants to help victims recover form the darkness they were in is very welcome to join the fellowship. Inside this organization, members help each other to recover from their problems. The fellowship believes that the best people who could understand addicts are those who have been addicts themselves. Empathy is not enough. Someone who has experienced any kind of addiction would really understand the feeling of an addict and thus, would be able to give the right comfort and support.

Moreover, the fellowship uses the twelve-step program in helping the patients recover. This twelve-step program was first made by the alcoholics anonymous. This consists of twelve steps on how to deal with the addiction, with emphasis on acceptance, surrender, and self-awareness. The twelve step program tries to impart that there is one very powerful being above us all, and that we should lay down all our flaws to Him and al will be well. Of course, man should do his best to become a better person and God will then do the rest.

Here is the Twelve-Step Program of the Emotions Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our emotions — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

With the twelve-step program, people who have become victims of addiction are given hope that it is not too late – that life does not end in addiction. In fact, it even opens a new door, a new episode in our lives in which we should live meaningfully.

In the 1970s, cocaine was expensive and considered a “status” drug. The introduction of inexpensive crack increased the convenience of this substance, and crack has become the drug of choice for many drug users, especially for inner-city disadvantaged youth. This has been the beginnings of the growing crack addiction. Crack’s convenience, ease of concealment, wide availability, and low cost has increased its use. The reality that crack is smoked rather than snorted has contributed to its popularity.

Moreover, drug addiction is not only occurring to people on the streets. It is a common fact that celebrities have their “shining moments” when it comes to substance dependence. They may look pleasant and very much happy in front of cameras, but their deepest secrets are yet to be exposed. A number of celebrities have already been into rehabilitation to fight their crack addiction, heroin, or even alcohol addiction.

Drew Barrymore was one of the very early celebrity known that spearheaded headlines because of her wild child antics. At the age of nine, Drew was already smoking cigarettes. She was an alcoholic at 11, a marijuana smoker by 12, and a cocaine addict by 13. She went to rehab twice and even attempted suicide when she was 14. Right now, that is all in the past. Her wild child days behind her, Barrymore has grown into a sober, responsible and productive woman. Aside from starring in a slew of hits, she has also become a producer, forming the production company Flower Films with friend and partner Nancy Juvonen in 1995. Her company is responsible for hits like Charlie’s Angels and 50 First Dates. This goes to show that anybody messed up with drugs can revive from life.

In the controversial Oprah-Winfrey-was-a-drug-addict tale, there are two known sides. On one hand, there’s the memorable TV moment in the 90s when she tearfully told in her own talk show that she had smoked crack cocaine while in her 20s, but never said anything about dependence on the drug or anything else. On the other hand, there’s the more latest accusation made in a tell-all book by a previous boyfriend that Oprah was actually a habitual cocaine user in the 80s, and was in fact under the influence during her show tapings.

Right now, we can clearly see that Oprah Winfrey has triumphed over the use of cocaine. As of September 2008, Forbes has predicted Oprah as having a fortune worth over $2.7 billion. CNN and Time Magazine hailed her “arguably the world’s most powerful woman”. She is quite the success story, sordid drug past or not.

Any kind of substance addiction, be it crack addiction can happen to anyone in all walks of life. Life is largely unpredictable. One time we are having a good laugh with friends living the good life, the next time we know, we are shaking and craving for a drug we never thought we couldn’t seem to live without. People may be aware of the effects of drugs if abused, yet they still give in to curiosity, probably, or to pressure and thus end up living miserably. However, there is still hope for every addict in this world. Life doesn’t end in addiction. It ends when one gives up.

As they say, we all are crazy. We all have that craziness within us. It is just a matter of how we deal with our differences and extremities that we are able to handle our craziness. Moreover, many ask if mental illnesses really do exist. The English-speaking world has not always used medical language to describe the behavior we now label as symptomatic of mental disorder. Descriptions were sometimes framed in quite different terms, such as possession. What we now call mental illness was not always treated as a medical problem. Non-English-speaking nations in the West have had changes in their linguistic usage and their treatment of the mentally ill roughly parallel to Anglophone countries. Anthropological work in non-Western cultures suggests that there are many cases of behavior that psychiatry would categorize as symptomatic of mental disorder, which are not seen within their own cultures as signs of mental illness.

However, nowadays, it has been argued that mental disorders are really existing mental conditions that may be a reason of disruption in a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a lessened capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.

Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Mental illnesses are curable. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience a break from their symptoms by actively joining in an individual treatment plan. In addition to medication treatment, psychosocial treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, peer support groups and other community services can also be components of a treatment plan and that assist with recovery. The availability of transportation, diet, exercise, sleep, friends and meaningful paid or volunteer activities contribute to overall health and wellness, including mental illness recovery.

Sometimes, recovering from mental illness is quite impossible due to the stigma attached to it by the society one lives in. When the person is treated inside a medical institution, he or she is given sufficient treatment and is treated as if they are normal. They are given proper care and attention so as to promote recovery. However, when they go out into the real world after some time, society, upon knowing their past, would most likely mock them and treat them differently. Society would look at them as someone who still has the mental disorder and consequently, it would make them feel worse and thus, could trigger an occurrence of the mental illness once again.

A person afflicted with a mental illness would feel less of himself. He would think that he I not valuable to live in this world given that he could not act properly anymore. However, support from family and friends would be a great help for the patient to view life differently and positively. Thus it is the role of the family to provide the patient with love and care so as to sustain his recovery.

Studies have been made as to determine the real effects of suboxone to the patient. There were about 575 patients being studied with using suboxone, Subutex tablets in 1834 patients and buprenorphine sublingual solutions in 2470 patients. A total of 1270 females have received buprenorphine in clinical trials. Dosing recommendations are based on facts from one trial of both tablet formulations and two trials of the ethanolic solution. All trials used buprenorphine in combination with psychosocial counseling as component of a comprehensive addiction treatment program. There have been no clinical studies made to evaluate the effectiveness of buprenorphine as the only component of treatment.

In a double blind placebo and active controlled study, 326 heroin-addicted subjects were at random assigned to either Suboxone 16 mg per day, 16 mg Subutex per day or placebo tablets. The primary study comparison was to assess the efficacy of Subutex and Suboxone individually against placebo. The percentage of thrice-weekly urine samples that were negative for non-study opioids was statistically higher for both Subutex and Suboxone, than for placebo.

Since suboxone is a mixture of two currently marketed medications, buprenorphine and naloxone, it gives a combination of a weak narcotic (buprenorphine) and a narcotic antagonist (naloxone). The later is supplemented to stop addicts from injecting the tablets intravenously, as has happened with tablets only containing buprenorphine; because it contains naloxone, Suboxone is extremely likely to generate intense withdrawal symptoms if misused intravenously by opioid-addicted individuals. Buprenorphine is a partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor and an antagonist at the kappaopioid receptor. Naloxone is an antagonist at the mu-opioid receptor.

Like most addictions, suboxone or subutex addiction is quite unavoidable. The drug is not supposed to be used occasionally. It must be used as a continuous treatment method and thus, may become harmful if usage is stopped too quickly. Like heroin, suboxone could result to a “euphoric” feeling. Undeniably, the person who is continuously taking the drug has a very high risk of becoming dependent and addicted to the drug. It has a mechanism that imitates the actions of naturally occurring pain-reducing chemicals called endorphins. Endorphins are found in the brain and spinal cord and reduce pain by combining with opioid receptors. However, opioids also act in the brain to cause feelings of euphoria and hallucinations. This greatly explains their addictive inclination among people who are taking them in a long-term basis.

Moreover, in taking suboxone, one should be very careful. As much as possible this should be taken with great regulation by a medical expert. This medication may cause sleepiness. If affected, do not drive or operate machinery. Drowsiness will be made worse by alcohol, tranquilizers, sedatives and sleeping tablets such as benzodiazepines. Taking these in mixture with buprenorphine can also cause potentially dangerous problems with breathing and so should be avoided while taking this medicine. The liver function should be often monitored while getting treatment with this medicine.

In substance addiction, it is very excellent to use drugs such as subutex and suboxone. However, there has not at all been a drug that has been found to be an effective medication for addiction that is at the same time non-addictive. Science may have been in the process of trying to find the perfect drug that would provide us with the two benefits.

Substances, therefore, should be taken with warning and appropriate supervision from medical professionals. In addition, it is the responsibility of the individual himself to look after his in-take of a drug. He should be the one controlling the substance, not the other way around.

As unusual as it seems, there are individuals who cannot deal naturally with their emotions. Just like alcoholism, emotional problem is a serious problem. An individual is not able to function well due to the disruption of its emotions. Usually, people would use defense mechanisms as to cover up their emotional problems. However, this would in turn cause some commotion in their daily lives. And, moreover, it could affect the people around them. Moreover, emotional problems could be caused by alcoholism or any addiction problems. When one is addicted, the person does not only become physically attached to the object of addiction, but also he or she becomes emotionally attached to the object of addiction.

Emotions Anonymous is a twelve-step organization, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. It caters to people whose emotions are causing difficulties in their lives. Emotions such as depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness, anger, compulsion, and obsessions are the most common in which the members had to deal with. this organization started on July 6, 1971. Emotions Anonymous meetings are self-supporting by voluntary contributions of its members. Emotions Anonymous is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution, nor does it endorse or oppose any causes. The primary purpose of Emotions Anonymous is to show its members how to stay well emotionally and how to help others to become emotionally well.

This is the twelve-step program being used by Emotional Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our emotions — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

With emotions anonymous, people in all walks of life are able to seek help from others and may find relief and direction from those who have been there and had done that, or even share compassion with people are experiencing the same thing. Indeed, social support is very important and could be a cure to emotional illness.

The sex and love addiction anonymous was founded to cater to those who have been a victim of this addiction to sex and love. This was founded by a former Alcoholics anonymous member. Though, he had been sober, he was unfaithful to his wife for a period of time. He founded sex and love addiction anonymous as an try to end his compulsive sexual and romantic behavior.

“Bottom-line behaviors” are persuaded to be identified on members of the organization. The organization identifies these behaviors as “any sexual or emotional act, no matter what its initial impulse may be, which leads to loss of control over rate, frequency, or duration of its occurrence or recurrence, resulting in spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, and moral destruction of oneself and others.”

In addition, the Sex and Love Addiction Anonymous uses the 12-step program and the 12 traditions in helping their members recover from the addiction. The good thing with the organization is that since everyone is a victim, they are empathic about each other’s experiences and feelings. Thus, they claim to understand what the other person is going through and are able to offer support through sharing and meetings. As quoted, “we found in each other what we could find nowhere else: people who knew the depth of our pain. Together we found hope and the care of a loving Higher Power. Our commitment is to help others recover from sexual addiction, just as we have been helped.”

Sex and Love Addiction Anonymous’ twelve-step program are the following:

1. We admitted we were powerless over sex and love addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to sex and love addicts, and to practice these principles in all areas of our lives.

And here are their Twelve Traditions:

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon S.L.A.A. unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as this Power may be expressed through our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3. The only requirement for S.L.A.A. membership is the desire to stop living out a pattern of sex and love addiction. Any two or more persons gathered together for mutual aid in recovering from sex and love addiction may call themselves an S.L.A.A. group, provided that as a group they have no other affiliation.

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or S.L.A.A. as a whole.

5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the sex and love addict who still suffers.

6. An S.L.A.A. group or S.L.A.A. as a whole ought never to endorse, finance, or lend the S.L.A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. Every S.L.A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. S.L.A.A. should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

9. S.L.A.A. as such ought never to be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. S.L.A.A. has no opinion on outside issues; hence the S.L.A.A. name ought never to be drawn into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, film, and other public media. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all fellow S.L.A.A. members.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

To add, admitting to oneself that a superior being controls your life and you can turn to that superior being in time of needs is part of spirituality. It is God’s spirit that can grant you the strength and courage to face your problems. It is the recognition that you do not have to burn yourself out fraught to solve all your problems on your own. It is the openness to let go of your sense of over-responsibility and let God have some authority over the problems. Spirituality is also the recognition that humans consist not only of physical matter but also have a spiritual dimension that needs daily care in order to survive.

here are three foundational characteristics of spirituality are faith, hope, and love. Faith is what makes the person to believe that a supreme being is helping them in times of trouble, sorrow, and pain. Faith is the belief that God will never abandon or forget you during your time of need. Furthermore, spirituality is quickly identified in people who have hope and trust in God’s mercy, wisdom and justice. Their hope enables them to “let go and let God.” Their hope enables them to hand over their sense of over responsibility, guilt, rescuing and enabling to God’s hands. Their hope enables them to take a “tough love” stance in order to get aid for the troubled persons in their lives. There is also spirituality when one gives love, concern, and generosity to other people. With spirituality, people are altruistic and giving in their approach to the world. They are able to make a difference in people’s lives.

However, there has been a rising conflict between the boundary of spirituality and religion. The two terms may be sometimes used by people interchangeably, yet one should be clarified with its distinction. Religion is an institution recognized by man for different reasons- exert control; instill morality, stroke egos, or whatever it does. On the other hand, spirituality is born in a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced.

Personally, I believe that spirituality is deeper than religion. As what was said, religion is most of the time forced, thus, usually, people do religious rituals out of obedience to the religious tradition. But, true spirituality is something that is found deep within oneself. It is a way of loving, accepting and relating to the world and people around. It cannot be found in a church or by believing in a certain way.

Will is the force that makes an individual do something when circumstances seems to tell that it wont be a possibility. Will power is the skill to overcome laziness and procrastination. It is the ability to reject harmful impulses. It is the ability to arrive to a decision and follow it with perseverance until its successful accomplishment. It is the inner power that overcomes the want to indulge in unnecessary and useless habits, and the inner strength that overcomes inner emotional and mental resistance for taking action. As they say, it is one of the corner stones of success, both spiritual and material.

Usually, the concept of willpower is mostly useful in the process of modifying behaviors and eliminating bad habits. Everyone possesses some habits they wish they could overcome, such as smoking, excessive eating, laziness, procrastination or lack of assertiveness. To overcome these habits or addictions, one requires to have will power and self discipline. They make a great difference in everyone’s life, and bring inner strength, self mastery and decisiveness.

These days, the question of how to have willpower arises with the powerful influence of media. Commercials have attempted to position their products as a substitute to willpower. They start by telling you that willpower doesn’t work and then attempt to sell you something “fast and easy” like a diet pill or some wacky exercise equipment. Often they’ll even promise impossible results in a dramatically short period of time.

But actually, willpower does work. Willpower is a meditation of force. You gather up all your energy and make a massive thrust forward. You attack your problems strategically at their weakest points until they crack, allowing you enough room to maneuver deeper into their territory and finish them off. To be able to apply willpower, one should first choose an objective. Then, create a plan of attack, and finally, execute the plan. An effective method for developing and improving these abilities is to perform certain activities, which you would rather avoid doing due to laziness, procrastination, weakness, shyness, etc. By doing something that you do not like doing or are too lazy to do, you overcome your subconscious resistance, train your mind to obey you, strengthen your inner powers and gain inner strength. Muscles get stronger by resisting the power of the barbells. Inner strength is reached by overcoming inner resistance.

Willpower, however, cannot be attained right away. It takes time for you to fully attain this capability. Moreover, practicing your capacity to have willpower in trying to do the things that you hate to do. In your everyday dealings with things such as having to wash the dishes, cooking a healthy meal instead of ordering fast food, and having to wake up in the morning to run a mile or two, you can live out willpower, resisting the temptation and evil caressing hands of laziness.

Additionally, in more serious cases such as quitting smoking, the first step is having the willpower and determination to change and quit the bad habit. In rehabilitation centers, patients are taught and encouraged to practice their willpower and take control over their lives, over their addiction.

Willpower by the word itself is such a powerful thing. When people possess willpower, they will be able to do the things that in the first place they are very unwilling to do. It is like with willpower, you are fighting your resisting mind.

Depression is not just a state of mind but it is also related to physical changes in the brain. Depression is said to be caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters that carry signals in the brain and nerves. Excess activity of the stress response system sends emotional centers of the brain into overdrive so that negative events make a disproportionate impact and hijack rational response systems. One literally can’t think straight. It makes one ruminate over and over about the difficulties and disappointments one encounter until that’s all one can focus on. The cause of depression can be both blamed to one’s environment and genes. To most, depression is hereditary. They are inclined to be depressed even when faced with very minimal stress because it may be inherited. On the other hand, there are people who are not able to adjust to certain changes in their lives, like losing a loved one, or even when after getting married, get depressed. These people may not have hereditay depression but still they are prone to be depressed when they are not able to pull through from their gloomy moments. Moreover, a negative personality characterized by a low self-esteem, and a negative outlook are at higher risk of becoming depressed. As said earlier, it is normal for people to become depressed but only for a short while. When depression prolongs, it could lead to other psychological disorders.

When you get depressed, you feel hopeless and sad. You may not feel any pleasure from almost anything you do. Others either lose or gain weight because of changes in appetite. There are those who cannot sleep at night while others would oversleep. Also, a depressed person is either restless or feels tired all the time that moving seems to be a great effort .

In taking a look at depression, one should also take into account diffrences in gender. More women get depressed than men. This could be because of hormonal changes brought on by puberty, menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy. This fact might be debatable because in most cases only a small number of men seek help to cure their depression. Men usually mask their depression with alcohol or even drug abuse. Moreover, suicide cases due to depression are higher among men than women. Another group of people who are prone to depression are the elderly. This can be attributed to the fact that most of them are having problems living alone with their children having their own lives already. Feelings of being useless and unimportant may lead older people to feel depression.

Once you have the disorder of depression, the disorder wont leave you on its own. One must do something with it. We are lucky that in the present, treatments are therapies are easily available to teat depression. Supportive counseling helps relieve the pain of depression, and addresses the feelings of hopelessness. Cognitive remedy on the other hand, transforms the cynical thoughts, expectations, and negative self-evaluations that create depression and sustain it. This therapy facilitates the person differentiate serious from minor problems and it helps the person to build up positive life goals and a more positive self-evaluation. Behavioral therapy permits an individual to make constructive solutions to certain problems. It helps the patient develop better coping skills. These therapies may be combined for a better and faster recovery.

Depression is more of state of mind than of biological basis. The person has control over his mind. We can say that our minds are very powerful that our thinking affects our judgment and outlook in life, but the individual is capable of deciding whether to allow these negative thoughts rule over all away and choose to see the bright side of life.