Depression is a disease of wealthy people with a lot of free time. Busy people do not have the opportunity to set aside time in which to feel sorry for themselves. (Unknown wit) More and more often you can hear people complaining about depression, depressed states of consciousness. Is this really true? Is depression really so common that it has become a scourge and illness of people in the 21st century? Let's look at what depression is. What does it look like and does it really affect such a large part of society. Symptoms: During depression, there is a persistent decrease in mood and intellectual activity; motor activity and the need for physical activity decrease, there is a decline in vital needs (food, sex), and also - the assessment of oneself and the surrounding reality becomes pessimistic, somato-neurological disorders appear. Currently, depression is usually divided into endogenous, psychogenic and organic (i.e., developed not as a result of dementia, but in case of damage). Endogenous depression includes a component under the general name - “vitality” (from Latin - vita, vital force) A depressed state of vitality is expressed in causeless melancholy , in a feeling of total distress. The onset of psychogenic depression coincides with the moment of injury. The further course of the disease is a constant reflection of this trauma in the structure of experience in everyday activities. Recovery in this case occurs as the trauma is deactualized. Depression is also divided according to the type of course: unipolar (mood does not undergo radical changes and is at a generally low level) and bipolar (mixed states). And also - according to severity: psychotic and neurotic (related to the event). There are many theories about the occurrence of depression. Some theories are based on the principle of neuroplasticity (the ability of neurons and neural networks to change connections and behavior in response to new information and sensory stimulation from the outside). According to the psychodynamic approach, unconsciously grieving people regress to the oral stage. During this period they were in complete symbiosis with their parents, and then, identifying with the person they had lost, they symbolically regained him. However, by identifying with the object of loss (love), a person also loses a part of himself. In this case, all work is focused on working with addictions and losses. According to learning theory, depression is considered as a loss of adaptive forms of behavior. Adaptive behavior is replaced by complaints, crying and irritability. In other words, the ability to adapt to external conditions disappears, and is replaced by an attempt to demand that the external conditions adapt to the established internal ones. In Seligman’s theory, depression is caused by helplessness, but it is not the circumstances themselves that seem helpless, but the inability to control them. If I cannot control the world, then I cannot live in it. In this case, it is necessary to work in an existential approach, i.e. touching on topics related to the fear of death and the meaning of life. Beck’s cognitive model of depression contains 3 specific concepts: - Cognitive triad: a person’s negative attitude towards himself, his own current experience, his own future. - The presence of rigid patterns, rules and assumptions. - Cognitive errors : “All or nothing”, dramatization, discrediting all positive aspects, emotional argumentation, labeling, exaggeration or understatement, mind reading (generalization), perfectionism. In this approach, it is recommended to clearly plan your week, day, and carry out your plans according to previously drawn up list. According to modern ideas, those people who are prone to suicide are also depressed, although the latter may deny the fact that they have such conditions. Often those who are tuned in.