7. From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
Clinical depression is a serious medical condition. The word “clinical” is added
to separate people who are depressed from those who simply feel sad
because of life events. People with clinical depression can feel very sad,
hopeless, and unimportant. Often they are unable to live in a normal way.
Some people who suffer from depression kill themselves.
Clinical depression can be a difficult disease for medical professionals to
diagnose, or identify. And it is difficult to treat -- what may work for one
patient suffering from depression may not work for another.
Some experts estimate that medicine used to treat depression is effective in
treating 80 to 90 percent of patients. But other studies suggest medication is
not much better at reducing levels of clinical depression than a placebo. A
placebo is an inactive substance given to patients who do not know it is not
medicine.
…
8. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
•WHY IS IT SO TABOO (FORBIDDEN) TO TALK OPENLY ABOUT DEPRESSION?
•HOW DOES DEPRESSION AFFECT OUR LIVES?
•WHAT CAN WE DO WHEN FEELING DEPRESSED?
•WHAT SHOULD WE DO WHEN WE NOTICE DEPRESSION IN OTHERS?