DEPRESSION
Depression is something more than a situation where someone is simply feeling unhappy or bored for a few days
veryone has days that they are in a bad mood, but when you suffer from depression, you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, and not only for a few days.
Some people still believe that depression is something insignificant and not a real health condition. This is wrong. Depression is a real disease with real symptoms, and does not consist a sign of weakness or something that you can “overcome” just by “pushing yourself”.
The good news is that, with the proper treatment and support, most of the people can fully recover.
How can you find out if you suffer from depression?
Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a great variety of symptoms. These range from the constant feelings of sadness and despair to the reduced interest for things and the ways you use them in order to enjoy them. Many people with depression have also anxiety symptoms.
There can also be physical symptoms, such as a feeling that you are always tired, that your sleep is bad, that you have a poor appetite for food or sex, as well as pains and physical discomfort.
The severity of these symptoms can vary. In more mild forms, you may just feel that your energy is persistently low, while a more severe depression can make you feel suicidal and think that your life is not worth living.
Most of the people experience feelings of anxiety, sadness or stress during difficult times. A bad mood can improve after a short time period, instead of being a sign of depression.
Depression and Psychotherapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps to understand thoughts and behavior and how they affect you. Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy recognizes that events in your past may have shaped you as a character, but the therapeutic focus is primarily on how you can change the way you think, feel and behave in your present situation. The goal is to learn how to overcome negative thoughts, for example, to be able to challenge feelings and thoughts of hopelessness in depression.
When must you visit a doctor?
Sometimes there is a clear cause for depression. There are in our life stressful events, such as mourning, the loss of your job or even a baby, that may cause a depressive episode.
It is also possible that people with a family history of depression, experience respective episodes themselves. But is also possible that a depressive episode is caused without any apparent reason.
Depression is quite a common condition and affects almost one out of 10 of us, in some particular period of our life. It affects men and women, young and old people.
Depression can also affect children. Studies have shown that almost 4% of the 5-16 year old children in the United Kingdom suffer from anxiety or depression.
The symptoms of clinical depression
The symptoms of depression might be complicated and vary in a great degree between patients. But, as a general rule, if you suffer from depression, you feel sad, hopeless and without any interest for things that you could recently enjoy.
The symptoms persist for weeks or months and quite often they intervene in your work, your social and family life.
There exist much more symptoms of depression, which include:
Psychological symptoms, such as continuous bad mood or sadness, feeling desperate and helpless, low self-esteem, tendency to cry, feeling of guilt, irritability and intolerance of others, reduced incentives or interest for things, difficulty in making decisions or enjoying anything in life, stress or anxiety, suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harm in some way.
Physical symptoms, such as slowness of movement or a speech rate that is slower than usual, changes in appetite or weight (it usually reduces, but sometimes it increases), constipation, unexplained pain, lack of energy or lack of interest for sex (loss of libido), changes in the menstrual cycle, disturbed sleep (for example, the patient has trouble sleeping at night or wakes up very early in the morning).
Social symptoms, such as problems at work, participation in less social activities and avoiding communicating with friends, neglecting our hobbies and interests, difficulties at home and in our family life.
Depression can occur gradually, which will make it difficult to notice that something is wrong. Many people still try to address their symptoms without being aware that they are ill. It might take a friend or a member of their family to observe that something is wrong.
Distinction between sadness and depression
It can be difficult to make the distinction between sadness and depression. They have a lot of common characteristics, but there are also significant differences between them. Sadness is a quite natural reaction to a loss, while depression is a disease.
People that mourn, can notice that the sentiments of loss and sadness come and go, but they are still able to enjoy things and look to the future.
On the contrary, people who suffer from depression have a constant feeling of sadness. They do not enjoy anything and they find it difficult to be positive on the future.
Doctors describe depression depending on its severity as:
mild depression which has some impact on our everyday life,
moderate depression has a significant impact on our everyday life and
severe depression that makes our essential participation in everyday life impossible. Many people with severe depression may also have psychotic symptoms.
Other types of depression
There are different types of depression and some conditions where depression might have the form of the following symptoms:
Postpartum (postnatal) depression. Many women develop depression after childbirth. Postpartum depression is treated in a similar way with other types of depression, with therapy and antidepressants.
Depressive symptomatology in Bipolar Disorder, which may range from Bipolar Depression to Dysphoric Mania, where the symptoms of depression and of abnormally high mood (mania) coexist. The symptoms of depression are similar to the ones of clinical depression, but the outbursts of mania may include harmful behaviors, such as gambling, reckless expenditure and unprotected sex.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Also known as “seasonal depression”, SAD is a type of depression that has a seasonal pattern which is usually related with winter.
Treatment
The treatment for depression includes either medication or therapy, or, usually, a combination of both of them. Many people also address depression by making changes in their lifestyle, by doing more exercise, reducing alcohol, quitting smoking and by consuming more healthy foods. Self-help techniques are also useful, such as reading a self-help book or participating in a support group. The kind of therapy that your doctor will recommend to you depends on the type of depression you have.
Additional information - Useful organizations
Depression Alliance
212 Spitfire Studios, 6371 Collier Street, London, N1 9BE
Tel: 0845 123 23 20
depressionalliance.org
Mental Health Foundation
9th Floor, Sea Containers House, 20 Upper Ground, London, SE1 9QB
Tel: 020 7803 1101
mentalhealth.org.uk
SANE
1st Floor, Cityside House, 40 Adler Street, London, E1 1EE
Tel: 0845 767 8000
sane.org.uk
Rethink
89 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TP
Tel: 0845 456 0455
rethink.org
MIND
PO Box 277, Manchester, M60 3XN
Tel: 0845 766 0163
mind.org.uk