Short-term sadness, in response to a specific event or experience is not depression. Instead, depressive disorders affect a person’s mood, concentration, sleep, activity, appetite, social behaviour and feelings for at least two weeks. Depression commonly occurs with specific anxiety disorders and substance dependencies.
Depression causes both physical and psychological symptoms and is the leading cause of suicide and is often not recognised or treated.
The thoughts of depressed people often have themes of hopelessness and helplessness, for instance:
- 'I'm a failure', 'It's all my fault', 'Nothing good ever happens to me', 'I'm worthless', 'No-one loves me'
- 'Life is not worth living', 'There is nothing good out there'
- 'Things will always be bad'.
The Black Dog Institute web site has a range of fact sheets related to depression. (Please note, these fact sheets are only available in Portable Document Format (PDF) so they may not be accessible to some users of assistive technology. Please see the Black Dog Institute web site below (link will open in a new window):
The Mental Health First Aid web site provides steps to help a person going through a mental health crisis. Please see the Mental Health First Aid web site below (link will open in a new window):
Statistics
5.8 per cent of Australian adults experience a depressive order every year. Up to one in four females and one in six males will experience depression in their lifetime (beyondblue 2004).
Workplace adjustments and solutions
There are solutions and adjustments for the following job requirements:
Case studies and success stories
For job seekers and employees:
Relevant links