What are the harms of depression?
1. Functional decline: Long-term depressive mood can lead to thinking difficulties, a significant decrease in the efficiency of mental work, affecting brain function, dizziness, and memory decline.
2. Inducing physical illnesses: Patients with depression have twice the risk of developing heart disease and three times the probability of suffering a stroke. Common manifestations include reduced appetite, weight loss, decreased libido, constipation, impotence, amenorrhea, and fatigue. The family and friends of patients suffer great psychological pain and torture, and their work status is also affected to some extent.
3. Persistent negative and pessimistic thinking: A depressive state can lead to negative, pessimistic thoughts, self-reproach, and feelings of inferiority, making one feel that everything is extremely difficult and that the future is bleak and hopeless.
4. Shortened lifespan: A 40-year study found that the mortality rate caused by dysfunction due to depression is as high as that of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease patients.
5. Impairment of social functions: After suffering from depression, it is usually manifested as thinking difficulties, sleep disorders, decreased appetite, a significant drop in the efficiency of mental labor, difficulty in handling daily work, a decline in human immune function, and a reduction in social work and physiological capacity.
6. Increasing family burdens and making it hard to rest peacefully.
7. Long-term insomnia leading to sleep disorders.