DEPRESSION

Blog by Nandita Verma


“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.”
— Glenn Close


Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.


DEPRESSION

Depression is a state of mental illness. It is characterised by deep, longlasting feelings of sadness or despair. Depression can change an individual’s thinking/feelings and also affects his/her social behaviour and sense of physical well-being. It can affect people of any age group, including young children and teens. 

Everyone experiences sadness and unhappiness at some point in their lives. Clinical Depression, however, is more intense and of longer duration than typical sadness or grief, which interferes with a person's ability to engage in daily activities. The symptoms of depression can include: loss of interest or pleasure in previously enjoyable activities, major changes in appetite (either significantly reduced or increased), sleep problems (sleeping too much or too little), fatigue, a feeling of worthlessness or hopelessness, problems with concentration and making decisions, and thoughts of suicide.


                                    

The death of a loved one, loss of a job or the ending of a relationship are difficult experiences for a person to endure. It is normal for feelings of sadness or grief to develop in response to such situations. Those experiencing loss often might describe themselves as being “depressed.”

But being sad is not the same as having depression. The grieving process is natural and unique to each individual and shares some of the same features of depression. Both grief and depression may involve intense sadness and withdrawal from usual activities. They are also different in important ways:

  • In grief, painful feelings come in waves, often intermixed with positive memories of the deceased. In major depression, mood and/or interest (pleasure) are decreased for most of two weeks.
  • In grief, self-esteem is usually maintained. In major depression, feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing are common.
  • In grief, thoughts of death may surface when thinking of or fantasizing about “joining” the deceased loved one. In major depression, thoughts are focused on ending one’s life due to feeling worthless or undeserving of living or being unable to cope with the pain of depression.

Symptoms:





Although depression may occur only once during your life, people typically have multiple episodes. During these episodes, symptoms occur most of the day, nearly every day and may include:

  • Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as work, hobbies or sports.
  • Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or hypersomnia.
  • Tiredness and lack of energy.
  • Reduced appetite and weight loss.
  • Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements.
  • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
  • Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things.
  • Frequent or recurrent suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.
  • Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches.

Types of depression:




  • Major depressive disorder (MDD): Major depression (clinical depression) has intense or overwhelming symptoms that last longer than two weeks. These symptoms interfere with everyday life.
  • Bipolar depression: People with bipolar depression have alternating periods of low mood and extremely high-energy (manic) periods. During the low period, they may have depression symptoms such as feeling sad or hopeless or lacking energy.
  • Perinatal and postpartum depression: “Perinatal” means around birth. Many people refer to this type as postpartum depression. Perinatal depression can occur during pregnancy and up to one year after having a baby. Symptoms go beyond “the baby blues,” which causes minor sadness, worry or stress.
  • Persistent depressive disorder (PDD): PDD is also known as dysthymia. Symptoms of PDD are less severe than major depression. But people experience PDD symptoms for two years or longer.
  • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): Premenstruel dysphoric disorder is a severe form of premenstrual disorder (PMS). It affects women in the days or weeks leading up to their menstruel period.
  • Psychotic depression: People with psychotic depression have severe depressive symptoms and delusions or hallucinations. Delusions are beliefs in things that are not based in reality, while hallucinations involve seeing, hearing, or feeling touched by things that aren’t actually there.
  • Seasonal affective disorder (SAD): Seasonal depression or Seasonal affective disorder, usually starts in late fall and early winter. It often goes away during the spring and summer.

Treatment and Management:




Depression can be serious, but it’s also treatable. Treatment for depression includes:
  • Self-help: Regular exercise, getting enough sleep, and spending time with people you care about can improve depression symptoms.
  • Counseling: Counseling or psychotherapy is talking with a mental health professional. Your counselor helps you address your problems and develop coping skills. Sometimes brief therapy is all you need. Other people continue therapy longer.
  • Alternative medicine: People with mild depression or ongoing symptoms can improve their well-being with complementary therapy. Therapy may include massage, acupuncture, hypnosis and bio feedback.
  • Medication: Prescription medicine called antidepressants can help change brain chemistry that causes depression. Antidepressants can take a few weeks to have an effect. Some antidepressants have side effects, which often improve with time. If they don’t, talk to your provider. A different medications may work better for you.
 

-by Nandita Verma


Comments

Post a Comment