One in three adults in the United States is currently diagnosed with depression, but we are all wondering. What is depression? What Causes Depression? Moreover, how can you treat depression? What exactly is depression? According to specialists at the National Institute of Mental Health, depression is “a frequent but dangerous mood condition. It creates significant symptoms that interfere with how you feel, think, and handle daily tasks like sleeping, eating, and working [1].“The days may swiftly turn into weeks when you're at your lowest points,” Todd Ledford once stated. Something as simple as having the energy to turn on a shower might send you down a rabbit hole of ideas that raise your anxiety and cause you to give up before you even begin. In such respects, depression is crippling. Now that we have defined depression, let us look at some of its causes.
What factors contribute to depression? Drug misuse/abuse, age, gender, certain drugs, conflict, the death of a loved one, genes, major life events, personal issues, and significant illness can all lead to depression. Consider how crucial events like social isolation and loss may lead to depression to delve deeper into the causes of anxiety and sadness. Let us start with grief, because we can all agree that losing a loved one, whether a family member or a romantic partner, may have a bad impact on one's attitude on life. "Grief following the loss of a loved one may increase the risk of depression,"says Debra Fulghum Bruce, PhD [2].
According to the Boston University newspaper The Brink, depression among adults in the United States nearly quadrupled in the early 2020 months of the worldwide pandemic, rising from 8.5 percent before to the epidemic to a startling 27.8 percent [3].
Now that we know what depression is and some of its causes, let's talk about treatments for depression. New research published by Harvard Business School offers an alternative treatment for depression and anxiety. Their research indicates that skin care routines could be an emerging contribution to preventive approaches to helping patients with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. According to “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,” the Journal of Basic and Theoretical Research in Applied Psychology, Dr. Alison Wood Brooks found that: “...the application of rituals such as daily skin care routine enhances performance: engaging in behaviors described as a performance–enhancing ritual rather than engaging in similar behaviors described as random ones”. From this statement, we can draw a simple conclusion, which is to engage in daily routines such as taking good care of your skin, sleeping properly, eating nutritious foods to improve performance, thereby improving mood and overall health. Additionally, Wood Brooks further supports her claim, about how daily habits and rituals help reduce anxiety and depression, saying: “... skincare, exercise and meditation rituals can be particularly helpful because they are relatively easy to make and fit common sense – many people use them spontaneously to deal with their anxiety”[4].
It is a common understanding that those who suffer from some of the most detrimental forms of depression and anxiety often struggle with daily and routine tasks such as hygienic rituals. People suffering from depression and/or anxiety struggle to go through day, thus mental health professionals encourage people with depression/anxiety to establish healthy, daily routines. These can include exercise and meditation in the morning, eat nutritious meals at the same time every day, maintain a consistent sleep schedule and have a good skincare routine in the morning [5].
Having depression or anxiety can make you feel out of control and adopting a routine of any kind helps you regain a sense of control and empowerment. It can take away the uncertainty and anxiety that you may feel for the week – especially now, because of COVID–19, it's important to maintain consistent routine for the long run. Having a routine and habits in place can be comforting and familiar, and as we know what to expect. Not only can having routine decrease anxiety and help create a positive mindset, but it can allow you to be more productive and spend your time wisely [5].
Focusing on a safe and fast approach to maintaining hygiene, self–care products could become the next wave of preventive care in areas such as dermatology and infectious diseases, as they address everyday clinical problems. For example, how easy is it to get a rash from excessive sweat and biofilm, which can be caused by not showering or bathing regularly? Things like dental hygiene have a direct impact on heart health, and it's clear how the inability to perform these routine self–care tasks is linked to disease. The emphasis on good hygiene in the post– corona world is now underscoring the importance of finding ways to use skincare products and their availability so that people can take care of themselves daily [5,6].
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The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
