NICOLE PEREZ

All about depression.

0 Love | Friday, June 6, 2014

What is depression?

Basically the word depression is used to describe a range of moods, from low spirits to a severe problem that interferes with the everyday life.

If someone is experiencing severe or 'clinical' depression, it means you are not just sad or upset. The experience of

depression is an overwhelming feeling which can make you feel quite unable to cope, and hopeless about the future. If you are depressed your appetite may change and you may have difficulty sleeping or getting up. You may feel overwhelmed by guilt, and may even ﬁnd yourself thinking about death or suicide. There is often an overlap between anxiety and depression, in that if you are depressed you may also become anxious or agitated.

Who becomes depressed?

ANYONE can become depressed.

Approximately 1 in 6 people experiences depression of some kind in the course of their lifetime

AND

1 in 20 people experiences clinical depression.

So you must be interested in how depression is diagnosed right!?

Professionals actually look up to some key symptoms to determine if you're suffering from depression.

Examples of the key symptoms will be :

- Depressed or irritable mood most of the day, and nearly everyday

- Loss of interest or pleasure

- Changes in weight or appetite

- Sleep problems

- Agitation

- Tiredness and loss of energy

- Feeling guilty or worthless

- Difficulty in concentrating or making decisions

- Thoughts of death and suicide

And if you experience at least five of the symptoms above within the two-week period, you are likely to be diagnosed with depression.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT to identify depression even if it's pretty mild because it can have a big impact on your life and you are more likely to face a more serious depression down the road.

There are definitely different kinds of depression, let me show you some of the different kinds below :

POST-NATAL DEPRESSION :

A number of woman suffers from post-natal in the first year after having a baby.

They may be unusually tearful, anxious, irritable, and may also find it difficult to play with their babies and respond positively to them.

Post-natal depression is very different from the first few days of 'baby blues' women faced because of the rapid hormone changes.

Post-natal lasts longer than 'baby blues'.

It is probably due to a mixture of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Women that do not have a supportive partner and family members have a high risk of getting post-natal depression as they are not stable due to many changes in them especially in their emotions. So husband are suppose to show more care towards your wife during this crucial period and not add on stress to the family !!!!! (Although work may be hectic in the day but well, family comes first!)

BIPOLAR DISORDER (MANIC DEPRESSION):

About 1% of the population will actually experience Bipolar Depression at some point of their lives.
Bascially, Bipolar Depression is when you have 'high' and 'low' mood swings, along with changes in thoughts, emotions and physically health. The mood swings are normally more extreme than everyday ups and downs, which a normal mood swing seems bad enough already. This is also known as MANIC DEPRESSION. Late teens, or the early twenties are likely to diagnose with Bipolar Depression.
You have to seek help immediately as it will recur if you do not seek professional help.

I have seen some people that used to suffer from depression, it's never as easy as you think it is.
Because as for a case I know, they were so down in their emotions. They never left the house and they cut their wrists wanting to just end their life but due to having loving parents by their side they stood up and slowly accepted the fact that they have to take medications for their 'illness'. Well, till now the scars on their wrists can still be seen and they are still under the control of pills.
Some causes you might wanna know for depression, and I can say the lack of support in their partner or family is really a big issue.

What causes Depression?
Depression is highly related to what is happening in your life, and the kind of support you receive from others.
Some might think that depression is inherited but it's not. It just increase the risk of causing one to suffer from depression, but this may be because of the difficulties the family has in coping.
This definitely does not mean that depression is inevitable.

STRESS.
An epidosde of depression triggered by stressful things happening in our lives, particularly the loss of some kind such as unemployment, death of a family member or a friend.
Not only sad events, as well as happy events like marriage. Parents might feel the sense of loss of their son or daughter wben they get married even though they are happy for them. This will also trigger depression as there's a sense of loss.

How do you actually cope?

Social Support,
It's very important to build up strong relations with your family and friends as it's always better if you have someone you can turn to when you're feeling down. Don't ever bottle everything up and not wanting to let anyone know.
Having a supportive family, partner, friends can definitely reduce the risk of having depression.

Diet,
You may think that diet does not have anything to do with depression but you're wrong !!
A healthy diet is very important to keep you away from depression. In particular, drinking alcohol and taking drugs will make you feel worse in the long run. Research has suggested that people who are depressed or have bipolar disorder may actually benefit from eating more oily fish such as sardines, or from taking fish oil supplements with their prescribed medications.

All of the information above can be found in the research on the net so if you're interested in the exact details

of Depression, feel free to check it out yourself as well.

I got all this useful informations from

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/content/assets/PDF/publications/all_about_depression.pdf?view=Standard

Read it up as there are more details which I didn't include in this post.