10 Risk of Untreated Depression

Many people, irrespective of age and gender become the victims of depression. Statistical data indicate that a good number of people -- including very young ones, adolescents and adults -- get depressed every year. Untreated depressions can cause serious damages like severing of relationships, interpersonal harmony at work places, developing undesirable addictions and suicidal tendencies leading to death.

The following are the risks of depression unattended or untreated.

1. Physical Health: Studies relating to depression in patients recovering from critical diseases like strokes and heart attacks reveal that they have difficulty in making health care choices. These studies further point out that the heart patients with major depression have a higher risk of death in the first few months after a heart attacks.
2. Insomnia and Daytime Fatigue: Depression can also cause sleeplessness or disruption in sleep known as insomnia. This may result in extreme tiredness, drain of energy and  difficulty in concentration and decision making. Further, on a day to day basis, the following disorders may also occur:
   • Irritability and lack of focus.
   • An unfulfilled sleep sensation.
   • Trouble falling asleep either directly or after waking up in the middle.
   • Waking up at odd hours or waking up even before the set alarm.
3. Weight Loss and Obesity: Extreme conditions like excessive weight gain or excessive weight loss can also be the resultant symptom of untreated depression. Other emotional outcomes can be hopelessness, irritation, helplessness and frustration.
4. Cardiovascular Problems: Depression may have serious impact on your heart health as it increases endothelial inflammation (inflammation of the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels), which causes stress to the arteries and blood vessels. Depression also increases the stickiness of platelets, which in turn increases the risk for blood clots and heart attacks.
5. Alcohol and Drug Addictions: Alcohol abuse and drug addiction are more common in clinically depressed people. In turn, these pave path for a series of health hazards like tremors, consuming alcohol in sly, inability to maintain relationships, memory loss, self pity and reluctance to talk or share the problems etc.
6. Chronic Mental Illness: Untreated depression is likely to develop into serious mental disorders like bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.
7. Social Withdrawal: Depression may create an imbalance in the serotonin, a crucial chemical in the brain which is responsible for being happy and social. This imbalance  will manifest in total withdrawal from the social activities to the extent of the affected people distancing themselves from others and any form of social interaction like meeting people, and responding to phone calls, SMSs and emails of even their loved ones.
8. Risky Behaviors: People untreated for depression are likely to get into serious trouble by way of having unprotected sex, consuming spurious drugs, gambling, accident-prone driving and unmindful spending.
9. Suicides: The biggest risk of untreated depression is suicide. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 90 percent of people who die from suicide have depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder.
10. Increased Mortality: Untreated depression becomes chronic and studies prove that premature deaths are the results of a chemical imbalance created in the brain and substance abuse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who suffer from chronic, untreated depression may die up to 25 years earlier than the average lifespan.

In spite of the dire consequences of untreated depression mentioned above, it is really heartening to learn that more than 80% of the people diagnosed to be depressed can be successfully treated, with early detection, intervention, and support. Family support and treatment will go a long way to resume normal life.