Identifying Depression
Depression is a medical condition which is not easy to diagnose. Patients often
present with the feeling that something just isn't right, although they have lost
the skill to articulate as to what that is. They typically have lost the joy in
things which they used to love, and have a hard time sleeping or have weight loss
issues-or are eating too much. They often suffer from low self esteem and anxiety,
and may lash out-rather than presenting with the apathy usually associated with
the condition. Sometimes, these people are typically misdiagnosed as violent and
sent to anger management classes through the courts, where they- hopefully- learn
to control their outburst (the symptom) but fail to receive treatment for the original
cause-the depression that the proper medication might have gotten under control.
If you are a man, depression can be even harder to analyze. Men are taught that
depression is just a little too emotional to be manly and that they should just
suck it up and “get over it”. Also, for the elderly, recent studies have shown that
depression is much more common than originally thought.
Now, thankfully, depression has been determined to be a medical condition, with
both acute and chronic symptoms, and is considered to be treatable.
Depression can have the same drawback as alcoholism; the affected person usually
doesn't know what the problem is, only that they are having a “bad day” a lot of
the time. It will usually take an outside party or life changing event to make them
seek help, very seldom do they wake up one day and think to themselves "hey, I'll
bet it's depression, I should go get some help.”
With so many options available today, like being able to go online and download
an ebook or buy a book, tape or audio CD, the major issue isn't finding out about
how to treat it is identifying its there in the first place.
If you have the blues-not depression-just a little out of sorts, an inspirational
web site may help; you can go online in a forum and chat with others who are experiencing
the same feelings. These forums are also very helpful for people who are early in
their medicinal therapy and are experiencing the side effects of sleeplessness.
For these types of depression the internet can be a life saving resource.
Dysthimia
Some suffer from mental illnesses where one of the symptoms is depression. These
people present with a much more profound psychological issue, part of the treatment
is for these people can include a program of going to a meeting two or more times
a week, where they interact with other suffers under supervised conditions.
Others present with what is called dysthimia, functional depression, wherein
the person is able to go through the motions of their day, but with complete apathy.
Some people with dysthimia can function this way for years with their depression
going undetected. Dysthimia is especially hard for a woman, who is expected socially
to hold up the fort emotionally during times of stress, these women typically have
problems with confidence, sex, and motivation.
The good news is that once dysthimia is diagnosed, often times a very low dose
of anti-depressant is required for treatment. This, along with regular exercise,
relationship, marriage and/or group therapy can have an amazing and profound life
changing effect. Some people even report good results with hypnosis or special audio
or video programs with subliminals in the background.
Find Help
If you think you might be suffering from depression, you can go see your doctor,
or even online and search for free material to help you understand the symptoms
of depression better. There are also many magazine articles on the subject -many
of which provide checklists to test for the presence of depression. All of these
sorts of things are geared toward helping you find the best strategy for dealing
with depression.
