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DEPRESSION

         Maybe you get the blues from time to time or you feel grief over the loss of a loved one. These feelings are an unavoidable but normal and temporary reaction to life's stresses.  

          There's a point, though, when the intensity and length of those feelings let us know that the depression has stopped being a temporary mood and has become serious disorder.       

          Depressive disorders come in various forms.  Some people have one episode in a lifetime; others  have  episodes over and over again.  Some people who suffer from a major depressive disorder have symptoms so severe  they are unable to function at all.  Other people have ongoing, chronic, milder symptoms.  Some experience serious, recurring emotional lows and highs. This emotional roller coaster is called bipolar disorder  or manic-depressive illness.

           Depressive disorders are the most common of the mental illnesses, but are also the most responsive to treatment.

  Causes

• The causes of depression are not yet known.

• In the past 10 years, evidence has established that depressive disorders run in families.

• Sometimes the onset of a depressive disorder is associated with acute or chronic physical illnesses.

• Negative life events, such as the loss of a loved one, divorce, a move, a major financial upheaval or other loss may cause depression.

• Certain personality traits, such as low self-esteem, may cause a person to be more vulnerable to depression.

Symptoms

          When four or more of the following symptoms persist for more than two weeks or are causing problems with ordinary functioning, professional treatment should be sought:

• Persistent empty or anxious mood

• Loss of interest or pleasure in ordinary activities,  including sex

• Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling slowed down

• Sleep disturbances (insomnia, waking in the middle of the night or oversleeping)

• Eating disturbances (loss of appetite and weight, or weight gain)

• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions

• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism

• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness

• Thoughts of death or suicide;  suicide attempts

• Irritability

• Excessive crying

• Chronic aches and pains that don't respond to treatment

• Abnormally elevated mood or a feeling of being high or superhuman

• Increased talking

• Racing thoughts

• Poor judgment that leads to risk-taking behavior

Treatment

          Depression can be treated by psychotherapy, medicine, electroconvulsive treatment or phototherapy (the use of fluorescent lights for some people who have recurrent depressions in the winter months).

          For more than 80 percent of individuals suffering from depression, treatments will bring relief and a return to normal daily activities and enjoyments usually in a matter of weeks.

Warning signs of serious depression include:

• Social withdrawal

• Poor communication and sharing

• Reduced effort and involvement with others

• Changes in friends, preferring to be around people who are angry or negative

• Loss of interest in things you used to like doing

• Insomnia or increased or decreased sleep

• Defiance

• Dishonesty

• A strong "I don't care" attitude

• Preoccupation in dress, color, poetry, music, peers or attitude

• Poor impulse control

• Reduced honest cooperation with authority figures

• Discussions of lack of pleasure in life or reason to live

Depression
www.state.sc.us/dmh/get_facts.htm
www.state.sc.us/dmh/clinical.htm www.aacap.org/press_releases/1999/june24DE.htm www.thriveonline.oxygen.com/medical/depression/index.html 
(This site has a depression screening quiz)  

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