Everybody's mood varies according to events in the world around them. People are happy when they achieve something or saddened when they fail a test or lose something. When they are sad, some people say they are 'depressed', but the clinical depressions that are seen by doctors differ from the low mood brought on by everyday setbacks. Psychiatrists see a range of more severe mood disturbances and so find it easier to distinguish these from the normal variations of mood seen in the community. General practitioners (GP's) need to be sensitive enough to distinguish emotional reactions to setbacks in life from anxiety syndromes, somatisation and clinical depressions. The general idea is that anxiety disorders, depressive episodes, somatisation and adjustment reactions are all different entities, but in practice it is not always that clear-cut. Major depression, as defined by psychiatrists, is unfortunately relatively common. What is depression? The term "affect" refers to one's mood or "spirits." "Affective disorder" refers to changes in mood that occur during an episode of illness marked by extreme sadness (depression) or excitement (mania) or both. Depression is a disorder of affect. Affective disorders are predominantly disturbances of mood that are severe in nature and persistent despite the influence of external events. Depression is characterized by severe and persistent low mood, which is often unresponsive to the efforts of friends and family to cheer the sufferer up. Patients who suffer with repeated episodes of depression have a Recurrent Depressive Disorder. Depressive episodes can be classified into mild, moderate, and severe types, with or without psychotic symptoms. To be classified as depression, an episode must last more than two weeks. A condition where the mood is persistently low, but does not quite fulfill all the criteria for a depressive episode, is sometimes called "dysthymia." Community studies have found that depression is prevalent between 5 and 20% of all people. About 10% of people over age 65 will have a major depressive episode. The incidence of depression is higher in women and in urban settings rather than rural settings. Clinical features of depression Mild depressive episodes typically include features such as: ·Sadness and crying, ·Loss of int... ... middle of paper ... ...ession before referring on to the non-medically trained. Prognosis The long-term prognosis for depression is still guarded, however. Up to 15% of patients who have had depression will go on to kill themselves. Recurrent episodes of depression are the norm rather than the exception. Long-term studies of lithium suggest that it may help to reduce the number of episodes and prevent suicide. Studies of long-term use of antidepressants suggest beneficial effects. Long-term efficacy of psychotherapy and counseling has not been proven. Learning points: depression ·Depressive illness affects 10-18% of the adult population. ·Depressive illness in the community is largely untreated, because patients generally do not seek medical help, and of those that do seek help only about 60% of those that see their family doctor are recognized by them as suffering from depression. · Depressive illness is treatable - over 80% of cases can be resolved with adequate treatment. ·Treatment may include antidepressants, (SSRIs, tricyclics, MIRA drugs, or MAOIs), ECT (for severe or delusional depression) or psychotherapy for mild to moderate depression (particularly cognitive therapy).
...d another 17% has less severe, but equal maladaptive illness (248). Only a handful receive treatment.
In Gershon, S. and Baron Shopsin (Eds.), Lithium: its Role in Psychiatric Research and Treatment. (pp. 15). New York: Plenum.
Depression has many degrees of severity from a passing feeling to a serious illness, which destroys lives and relationships. Major depressive disorder is the most severe form of depression. It is extreme and persistent, rendering the patient inconsolable and helpless (1). Depressed patients often cannot continue working and have difficulty dealing with family and friends. Other symptoms of major depression are deep despair, misery, irritability, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, change in eating and sleeping habits, fatigue and inability to concentrate. Other mental illnesses, such as anxiety and alcoholism are also associated with major depression (2). While serious depressive episodes are important to our understanding of mental health, chronic depression is terribly widespread and often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Dysthymia is a disorder which has similar, but milder and much longer lasting, symptoms to depression (3). By understanding the characteristics of dysthymia, health professionals can identify a chronic mental illness before it manifests into more serious psychological problems, such as severe depression. Dysthymia is also an interesting disorder from the neurobiological perspective because it is often difficult to discern from other personality disorders, such as a depressed or gloomy personality. This paper explores depression and dysthymia, their symptoms and therapies. In addition, personalities which are depressed will be analyzed and compared to depression and dysthymia. Do all three afflictions stem from the same genetic or environmental causes, and mechanistic origins? Are they all responsive to the same treatment? This comparison will address the difficulty in dis...
...Lithium: Proving Its Mettle for 50 Years." Journal of American Medical Association 281 (1999): 25-32
In this chapter, I apply George Canguelhelm’s critique of positivism to a series of case studies demonstrating the theoretical and practical shortcomings of the chemical imbalance theory as a treatment modality for clinical depression. While the medical model in psychiatry suggests that reversing abnormal brain chemistry by pharmaceuticals corrects depressive symptoms, these case studies explicate Canguelhelm’s critique of the positivist quantity of “normal” as insufficient to account for an objective explanation of depressive pathology. Drawing on his conception of the pathological as a reduction of normativity rather than deviant of statistical normality, I attempt to preserve a holistic concept of depressive symptomatology necessitated by the reification of the chemical imbalance theory in psychiatry. The implications of this perspective as it pertains to the use of psychopharmaceuticals and alternative treatment modalities will be foregrounded and explored in chapter 5.
Depression: Cause or Effect? Depression supplies a distinct depiction of the brain, equals behavior theory. The physiological characteristics that taint the diseased brain directly impact the thoughts and behaviors of the millions of sufferers. The genesis of this dehabilitating problem is both mysterious and complicated, and I am not offering any sort of revelation in stating that it is a multi-factorial manifestation involving both biological and environmental components.
"Depression (major depressive disorder)." Depression (major depression) Risk factors. Mayo Clinic, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
Also, family members can always help depression patient to build up the confident and
Sadness, stress and anxiety are normal in a typical life. But, what happens when sadness feels like it is too strong to deal with, when you cannot think of another way out, when you think the only answer is to take your life? Depression can be one of the many triggers as of why you make be having suicidal thoughts. Depression is not a mood, a phase, a call for attention, or personal weakness. Many times people choose to hide their depression because they feel that people will think they are weak, they do not want people to worry about them or let alone think that they are crazy. But, how will we know to reach out and help them before it is too late? And, is there a way to help save someone who is having suicidal thoughts?
Depression is an illness within itself that affects the “whole body”. (Staywell,1998) The body, feelings, thoughts, and behavior are all immensely altered when someone is depressed. It is not a sign of personal weakness, or a condition that can be wished or willed away. For some people depression is just temporary, but for others it can last for weeks, months and even years.
Clinical depression is very common. Over nine million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression at some point in their lives. Many more people suffer from clinical depression because they do not seek treatment. They may feel that depression is a personal weakness, or try to cope with their symptoms alone. On the other hand, some people are comfortable with admitting their symptoms and seeking help. Such a discrepancy may account for the differences in reported cases of depression between men and women, which indicate that more than twice the numbers of women than men are clinically depressed. According to the numbers of reported cases of depression, 25% of women and 10% of men will have one or more episodes of clinical depression during their lifetimes.
Many people feel depression and not know why, they may start to feel like they’re crazy or as if they can’t live a normal life. “ Most mental illnesses go undiagnosed and untreated , screening helps” (Depression Tests, 1). After identifying these illnesses people can finally have a peace of mind and be able to take all the right steps in helping themselves.
As Descartes argued, the mind and the body are the base of our existence, and many different cultures view different illnesses positively or negatively. Certain cultures, like the Hmong, believe that epilepsy is a good spiritual thing, but others, such as Western culture, believe that it is medically bad because it could cause death. Many illnesses can be viewed both negatively and positively, some more than others. However, one such illness that is mostly viewed negatively is depression. It is viewed negatively in a symptomatic sense – the symptoms are useless – and in a diagnostic sense – those diagnosed with depression are not actually depressed and the illness itself does not exist; it is simply an excuse to be lazy. There are many different approaches to depression and most of them consider that this illness is negative; however, depression is actually an evolutionary tactic subconsciously employed by humans that can have very positive effects.
There are many people in the world who are struggling with the disease depression. Depression is the state in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant. The thing about depression is that it affects both genders and any ages. Depression is something that deserves full attention. For many reasons doctors believe that when a person has depression, they have to start taking medication for it as if medications help. People are becoming more dependent on antidepressants when there are other techniques for dealing with depression.
Depression is one of the most common psychological problems. Each year over 17 million Americans experience a period of clinical depression. Thus, depression affects nearly everyone through personal experiences or through depression in a family member or friend.