Depression

DEPRESSION We all feel down from time to time, it is a normal cycle that is a part of out lives, but what if your sadness never goes away' What if you lose all your hope about being happy again' This is an example of being truly depressed. It is a very serious situation, it affects your daily life routine, you do not feel the pleasure while doing what you generally love doing, such as; hobbies. Suddenly your interest in anything you like disappears; you start to feel tired all the time. It is hard but with good help and good support, this psychological disorder may go away. The major step towards treatment is to understand the reason of depression. By looking at signs, symptoms, causes and treatment options, you may overcome the problem. To begin with, we have to know what depression really is. Depression is a disorder that involves feelings of sadness lasting for two weeks or longer, often accompanied by a loss of interest in life, hopelessness, and decreased energy. It causes serious physical changes in brain, for example, it affects the neurotransmitters which has a big role in mode regulations (such as serotonin; low levels of serotonin leads to depression), when we are depressed, the number of neurotransmitter decreases. People with a history of depression have some related changes in their brain structure. For example hippocampus of a person who had depression is smaller than any other person. Because the hippocampus is an important serotonin of brain structure, and as I mentioned before, depression decreases the level of serotonin. The symptoms of depression may seem very familiar to everyone, but we must not forget that it is only depression, a clinical disorder, when it lasts 2 weeks or more. Change in sleeping habits is one of the main symptoms. You can not sleep properly (which may lead into insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping also known as hypersonic) or you star to sleep too much. Feeling fatigued, physically drained. You can not handle your body. Your concentration ability gets worse, you can not concentrate, you start to find some tasks which you find easy to do before is now hard to handle. You start to have problems about focusing, making decisions and remembering things. Feeling of hopelessness and helplessness gets you over and you become pessimistic about every single thing in your life. You complain about yourself and criticize yourself because of the mistakes you made (self loathing).Also loosing the ability to control negative thoughts, no matter how hard you try, you are always being negative about everything in your life. The appetite you have will change, whether you will lose it or you can not stop eating. This will also affect your physical appearance and may cause a battle between you and your appearance in the mirror, if you feel irritated by the way you see your self and if you are already sad, it will make it much more worse. Other than appetite, you suddenly become much more irritable and short tempered than usual. You have general pessimistic thoughts about life such as life is not worth living; in this case person should seek help immediately. You may also have some unexplained aches and pains, for example, headaches, stomach pain, aching muscles and back pain. Depression in men and depression in woman has some different symptoms. Rate of depression in women are twice as high as they are in men because of the hormonal factors. Especially in premenstrual syndrome (PMS), premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), postpartum depression, and perimenopausal depression. As a result, woman experience feeling guilty all the time, they sleep excessively, they overeat, and gain weight. Also woman are more affected by season changes than man. Man who suffers from depression is generally affected by physical symptoms such as; feeling tired all the time or loosing weight. They rather accept the situation as an expression of anger than being ‘low. They do not prefer talking about their feelings which are one of the main reason why it is hard to understand whether they are depressed or angry, it also affects the treatment, makes it more complicated to figure out what to do. It is very important to recognize the depression in men, early detection and effective treatment may help to keep depression from becoming severe. There are several types of depression. The types of depression are; major depression, atypical depression, psychotic depression and dysthymia. Major depression is probably one of the most common forms of depression. It may cause because of a traumatic event, or may develop from consequence of disappointments and life problems the sufferer feels like he or she carries the weight of the world on his or her shoulders. They loose the interest in doing regular activities and they become hopeless about everything. There is a lack of interest in sexual activity. Their appetite change, they may loose weight and a lack of interest in sexual activity. Although it is had to get over, it has several treatment methods. Hospitalization is one of options. It is very critical decision for the therapist to make. Hospitalization is necessary if there is a risk of suicide or homicide. If she or he loss lost their ability to care for food, in need of shelter, and clothing, and the need for medical diagnostic procedures. If the patient is open to treatment, even a little, depression may be safely treated in the office where therapist can evaluate the patient frequently. The patient's support system should be strengthened and involved in treatment whenever possible. Using antidepressants is another option for treatment, according to studies; antidepressant therapy for major depression can reduce the rate of suicide and the rate of hospitalization. However, very few victims that have the risk of suicide receive antidepressant in sufficient doses. Atypical depression is subtype of major depression. Their mood changes according to the latest situation they are faced with. For example, when they dining out with friends they feel happy but once they stay lonely with themselves; their mood will slip back into the dark depths of depression. They can gain weight because of increased appetite, and they sleep excessively. A heavy feeling in the arms and legs and sensitivity to rejection may occur as well. The development of newer antidepressant medications can be helpful in treatment. Medications can relieve symptoms of depression. Also therapies like psychotherapy can also be useful in some cases. There is also electroconvulsive therapy that remains one of the most effective yet most stigmatized treatments for depression. Eighty to ninety percent of people with severe depression improve dramatically with electroconvulsive therapy. To sum up exercising regularly may be helpful in order to relief. Psychotic Depression is very interesting. Suddenly sufferers begin to hear and see imaginary things, such as, sounds voices and visuals that do not exist. Such as; hallucinations. Hallucinations are not like they are with a manic depressive. The sufferer imagines voices and visuals that do not exist. In the treatment of psychotic depression, there are 2 treatments that are effective; combined use of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs, and electroconvulsive therapy. If a person suffers from dysthmmia, they spend all their life feeling depressed, blue or melancholic. This is dysthymia - a condition that people are not even aware of but just live with daily. All the time, they can not get away with thought of being unimportant. They are dissatisfied all the time and frightened of everything. In other words, they simply do not enjoy their lives. The combination of medication and psychotherapy are useful for this type of depression. Other than these thypes of depressions, there is a disorder called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Seasonal affective disorder occurs because of the mood change during fall time ( it can continue into the winter months), as you can understand from the name, it depends on the seasonal change. In other words it is a type of depression that occurs at the same time every year. The season makes you moody and sensitive, it happens because of the lack of sun. Treatment for seasonal affective disorder includes light therapy (phototherapy), psychotherapy and medications. In psychology, there are four main approaches that has different kinds of explanation about psychological events. They are; biological approach, behavioural approach, cognitive approach and psychodynamical approach. These four approaches include different explanation about why we get depressed, what is the main reason of depression and what are the possible treatments. If we explain depression from biological approach, depression is linked to disturbance or imbalance of chemicals in the brain. There is a hypothesis called catecholamine hypothesis, which suggests that high level of adrenalin reproduce mania whilst decreased levels cause depression. Hormones also has a role, women with post-natal depression are subject to major changes in hormonal levels In behavioural approach, behaviourist says that a person's observable behaviour must be the basic object of consideration while evaluating a mental condition like depression. Factors that trigger the depressive behaviour, including genetics and brain chemistry, are de-emphasized in favor of environmental factors. Behaviourism believes that lack of positive reinforcement in behaviour and action may cause a depression. What will a behaviourist therapist will do for the treatment is he or she may help a depressed person adapt new behaviours that will lead to more positive outcomes. It also refers that some depressed people may receive positive reinforcement like sympathy and attention for the depressive behaviour. So the general therapy is to teach patient new skills to avoid depression. Aaron Beck, who developed an approach known as cognitive therapy, came out from an interest in his clients ' automatic thoughts' which is defined as personalized notions triggered by particular stimuli leading to emotional responses. By changing thinking, behaviour, and emotional responses, therapists assist clients in overcoming challenges and difficulties. The psychodynamical approach explains how our unconcious mind is affected by our past experiences and how it ends up as a result in our behaviour. Freud mentiones that persons early relationships with parents may affect their thoughts. Parents are the source of affection and love for the children. If a child experience a lack of love or an affection , or maybe experience a lost of a parent,during early ages, it leads into dissappointment. It causes extreme sadness, loss of appetite, disturbed sleep, withdrawal. Therefore, it opens a door to a depression.The greater the experience of loss in childhood, the greater the regression during adulthood. Unresolved issues and repressed hostility towards parents may be turned inward to self-directed hostility creates guilt, feelings of unworthness which may lead to suicide. Experts believe that depression is caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. Which means; your lifestyle choices, relationships, and coping skills as much as genetic factors. Some external things may also trigger depression, such as loneliness, lack of social support, recent stressful life experiences, marital or relationship problems, financial strain, early childhood trauma or abuse, alcohol or drug abuse, being unemployed and health problems or chronic pain All and all, the major thing that a person should do in order to get better is to understand the cause of your depression. For example; if you are depressed because of your job, trying to find more satisfying career may help you get over your illness, without any medication needed. If you are new to an area, feeling lonely, sad, finding new friends at your area will probably make you feel better. In such cases depression is solved by changing the situation. Since symptoms and causes of depression differentiate from person to person, so does the treatments. What works for one person might not work for another. So you should take some time to explore treatment options, and be hopeful. The best solution includes a mixture of self help strategies, lifestyle changes and professional help. Most importantly, don't be afraid of let other people know about your problem, you should ask for help and support. Make healthy lifestyle changes Learn social and emotional skills and always let your family and friends know what you’re going through and how they can support you.