VI. Causes of depression
A. Depression is often caused by a stressful life event, illnesses, or certain
drugs or medication.
B. Depression can be caused by a serious loss, relationship problems, work
stress, family crisis, financial problems, or any unwelcome life change.
• The author did a great job of being concise about the causes of
depression. Your topic may not be this simple, however. Be sure you
clarify any information that may be confusing or misconstrued. You
don’t want to loose your audience.
III. Symptoms
A. Depression is more than just the normal, temporary feeling of sadness and
hopelessness. It has other factors that your health care professional can help
you with.
B. Depression has other symptoms.
a. Depressive mood.
b. Not enjoying the daily activities in your life.
c. Problems concentrating.
d. Poor memory.
e. Having trouble making decisions.
f. Changes in eating habits.
g. Weight gain or weight loss.
h. Changes in eating habits.
i. Difficulty going to work or taking care of daily responsibilities.
j. Slow thoughts and speech.
k. Feeling guilt and hopelessness. Wondering if life is worth living.
l. Thoughts of death and suicide.
• Here, the author could have been clearer about what is normal in ‘A’.
All that might be needed is re-writing the sentence: Such as:
“Depression is more than the temporary feeling of sadness and
hopelessness, which is considered normal – almost everyone has had
these feelings from one time or another.” Restructuring your
sentence may help clarify your research.
• Even though the internet provides a plethora of information, you
should also attempt to find information in books and/or journals.
You can work with the librarians at LBCC to find this type of
information. Quoting a researcher’s data can really make a
significant impact on your speech. For instance, “Dr. John Smith
asserts that, “Poor memory causes many people to feel depressed
because they tend to forget, and thus miss out on important events.”
You can quote more than one source when you are making your
points!