Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common mental illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.  Most people feel sad or depressed at times. It’s a normal reaction to loss or a stressful life challenge. But when intense sadness lasts for many days to weeks and keeps you from living your life, it may be something more.  Depression causes feelings of sadness (including feelings of hopelessness and helplessness) and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home. Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:

• Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
• Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
• Loss of energy or increased fatigue
• Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, handwringing) or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others)
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
• Thoughts of death or suicide

Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year. And one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their life. Depression can occur at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Luckily, Depression is treatable.  A sufficient number of researches have been conducted and have shown that CBT is the most effective intervention for depressive disorders. Evidence also suggests that relapse rate of patients treated with CBT is lower in comparison to the patients treated with pharmacotherapy alone.