The famous American comedian Robin Williams died by suicide at home on August 11, once again making the world realize that “depression” is a very socially dangerous disease. According to the World Health Organization, depression may become the second most common disease after heart disease by 2020. A conservative estimate is that there are 350 million depressed people worldwide. The worldwide prevalence of depression is about 11%, 15% of severe patients choose to end their lives by committing suicide, 2/3 of patients have had suicidal thoughts, and the number of deaths by suicide due to depression is estimated to be as high as 1 million each year. So what is depression? Depression is a common disorder of the mind. Depression may exist if the following symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks: 1. Depressed mood: depressed patients feel depressed, bitter, depressed, negative and indifferent, not happy, not interested in doing anything, lonely and do not want to contact with people, family members find that the patient has become “bitter”. 2.Sluggish thinking. Often slow response to things, monotonous, no own point of view, the performance of intellectual degeneration, feel themselves “stupid”. 3.Decreased volitional activity: depressed patients treat anything weakened confidence, or loss of confidence, patients with severe depressive episodes can have discouragement, do not want to do anything, the family found to become “lazy”. 4, physical symptoms: often have unexplained physical pain, motor, behavioral degeneration, serious non-verbal, non-movement, non-food, up to the state of rigidity. 5. Sleep disorder: mainly early awakening, waking up 2 to 3 hours earlier than usual, unable to fall back to sleep after waking up. 6. Feeling painful to live, painful to live, tearful all day long, feeling that the future is dark, life is worse than death, negative suicidal concept or behavior. 7.Persistence of mental disorder: the symptoms are persistent, unlike other transient mental disorders. If there are several manifestations above, it is recommended to come to the outpatient clinic to further clarify whether you are suffering from depression. Is depression the same as an incurable disease? Depression is treatable, but first of all, patients must adhere to treatment. There are medications, including the “five golden flowers”, such as paroxetine, sertraline, Prozac, etc., and other therapeutic drugs such as venlafaxine, mirtazapine, duloxetine, etc., which are relatively safe and effective on the whole; of course, there are also psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, family therapy, etc. Family therapy, etc. Therefore, when facing depression, there is no need to talk about “depression”. As long as you persist in treatment, you can recover. So how to prevent depression? Suggestions: 1. Reasonable arrangement of work and rest time, to maintain a good sleep. If you do not sleep well and allow yourself to be in a bad physical state, you will easily appear depressed mood. Insomnia is a very common consequence of low mood, and in turn it can lead to depression. When you are in a better mood, you should develop good sleeping habits. 2.Good eating habits. Be especially careful with alcohol. Alcohol can temporarily make you escape from problems and worries, however the problems still lurk under the surface and eventually erupt like a volcano, bringing deeper depression. And excessive dieting will make you irritable, depressed, tired and weak. 3. Get more active outdoors. Exercise can prevent depressive episodes and help enhance physical and mental health. It can also improve mood faster and buffer depression for a short time. 4.Build good interpersonal relationships. As the old saying goes: rely on your parents at home, rely on friends outside. A close friend to tell the pain, seek the support of friends, than you can suffer alone in silence to be much wiser. If you can adhere to the above 4 points, then depression is getting farther and farther away from you.