Depression - symptoms, causes, how to get out on your own

How depression manifests itself

The main manifestation of depression is a persistent decrease in mood, the cause of which most often cannot be explained. The depressed mood itself is different from the grief that you experience during various misfortunes. A person suffering from depression usually cannot formulate his experiences due to the unusualness of the sensations, their difference from everything that he had previously experienced in life. Such people often resort to comparisons: “there is heaviness, stone, darkness in my soul”, “everything has lost its meaning, joy”, “life has become difficult”, “I feel as if I had a super-severe flu.”

Preventive actions

To avoid prolonged depression, you need to consult a psychologist, psychiatrist or psychotherapist at the first sign of depression. You can also reduce its symptoms at home by:

• attend trainings to improve self-esteem;
• tune in to positive thoughts;
• exercise regularly;
• stop watching dramas;
• change communication if it leads to negative thoughts;
• get rid of bad habits.

What are the causes of depression?

The cause of depression is inherited biochemical disorders at the level of the central nervous system. And also certain personality types: hypersensitive, scrupulous, pedantic, overly sensitive to failures, impressionable, vulnerable people are more susceptible to depression than others. We can talk about a risk group for depression: women suffer from depression much more often than men. If we talk about age, the lower limit for this group is 18-20 years old, the upper limit is 35-40. There is also a special form of depression that begins during menopause.

Factors influencing duration

Sometimes a person may have the impression that such a depressed state will last forever. Of course, no one can say exactly how long depression lasts. This is influenced by several factors:

1. Heaviness. Its mild and medium forms last up to 9 months. Most people cope with depression on their own. If the form is severe, then you cannot do without the help of specialists.
2. Cause of occurrence. Usually depression recedes if the cause that caused it is removed. For example, depression is caused by job loss. It is logical to expect that it will pass when a person finds a new one. If depression arose due to the death of a loved one, then relief will come only after a year. In cases where the cause disappears, but the depressed state remains, then the depression is of a physiological nature. To get rid of it, you will need to take medications. When the problem lies in childhood psychological trauma, a deep and thorough study with a psychotherapist is necessary.
3. Treatment. It includes medication and psychotherapy. If depression appears due to psychological reasons, it will not be possible to cure it only by taking pills. With regular therapy, you can fully recover after six months, but this is an approximate time frame.
4. Timely contact with a specialist. The sooner a person consults a doctor, the more effective the treatment will be. If you postpone a visit to a psychologist, the condition will gradually worsen. Then you will have to look for reasons for a long time and deal with the accumulated load.

It is also necessary to take into account your personality type. If a person has a sensitive psyche, he quickly gets involved in the problem, worries actively and for quite a long time.

Is it possible to diagnose yourself?

Recognizing depression is not an easy task, but you can suspect the disease based on a combination of the following factors:

• diurnal mood swings with worsening in the first half of the day, especially in the morning, and improvement in the evening;
• a sharp decrease in mood is combined with inhibition of movements and thoughts;
• persistent, causeless decrease in mood over a period of weeks or months or periodically in the fall and spring;
• cases of prolonged, causeless depressed mood, if there have been suicide attempts in the family by close relatives, especially on the maternal side, or periodic situations of binge drinking among close relatives;

Their appearance is characteristic: a bent posture, people look much older than their years, they have dry, flaky skin, their hair splits, falls out, often turns grey, and their nails are brittle.

Symptomatic picture of the disease

Signs of depression largely depend on the nature of the disease and help specialists make an accurate diagnosis.

1. In a state of major depression, the patient has a tired and sad appearance, lack of eye contact, emotionlessness, depression and restrained speech. Violations of diet and personal hygiene are possible. Also among the characteristic symptoms of depression are: decreased interest in favorite activities, insomnia, weight loss or sudden gain, indecisiveness, inability to concentrate, obsessive thoughts about death or suicide, lethargy.
2. In chronic depressive disorder, symptoms of the disease are observed for 2 years or more. The patient has anxiety, obvious personality disorders, increased criticism of himself and others, isolation and low self-esteem. In addition, a chronic condition is indicated by increased fatigue, inability to concentrate, feelings of hopelessness, insomnia or excessive sleepiness, weakness and low mood.
3. Against the background of premenstrual depressive disorder, women, a week before the expected date of the start of the cycle, experience sharp mood swings, anger and irritability, a state of anxiety and tension. Interest in usual activities decreases, concentration falls, increased fatigue and a feeling of depression are noted. Up to 6% of women of childbearing age suffer from the listed symptoms of depression in women with PMS at various periods of life.
4. In depressive disorders of unknown etiology, patients of both sexes experience anxiety, characteristic manic syndromes (feelings of superiority, talkativeness or high spirits), decreased emotional response to pleasant events, states of delirium or hallucinations, and psychomotor retardation.

The symptomatic picture of different types of depression has an individual coloring for each patient. However, all people suffering from depression invariably share common features of a particular disease, which simplifies the diagnosis.

Complications of depressive conditions

The increase in the pathological situation against the background of the patient’s refusal of professional help can cause the following dangerous phenomena:

• increasing symptoms of depression;
• increased incidence of depression;
• a protracted disease, the duration of which increases as attacks become more frequent;
• cases of double depression, when more “superficial” experiences are superimposed with severe psychological problems and stages of depression develop that are difficult to treat;
• difficulties in selecting appropriate therapy when the disease does not respond to classical methods of correction and requires the use of more “heavy” drugs with a high risk of side effects.

If depression is combined with a somatic illness, should you see a psychotherapist?

Yes. It should be noted that depression can manifest itself in various “masks”, for example: pain of various types, breathing problems (resembling asthma), binges, attacks of so-called vegetative-vascular dystonia. Diagnosis, in this case, can be helped by the mood swings characteristic of typical depression during the day, as well as other manifestations, such as rapid heartbeat, dilated pupils, and dry skin. Lack of appetite and constipation, also characteristic of depression, can be fatal as they last for several months.

Etiology of the disease

The classification of depression according to the current edition of the manual of mental disorders involves division into the following groups:

• major depressive disorder;
• chronic depressive disorder;
• depressive disorder with specified or unspecified etiology: premenstrual disorders, depression due to health problems, consequences of taking psychoactive drugs.

Most cases of depression have a clear age link: adolescence or age 20-30 years. Due to mental characteristics, women are more prone to depressive symptoms; the exact reasons for this phenomenon have not yet been established. Some depressive symptoms occur in 30% of patients seeking medical help. Less than 10% of those who apply show signs of deep depression that require competent medical intervention.

The state of demoralization associated with unpleasant incidents in the patient’s life differs significantly from clinical depression. There are a number of characteristic signs indicating temporary psycho-emotional difficulties that disappear within a few days without specific treatment:

• deterioration in mood manifests itself in outbreaks and is not permanent or protracted;
• as events change, a person’s mood improves and his mental state returns to normal;
• low mood can alternate with fun and stable well-being;
• The patient does not have suicidal thoughts, feelings of self-hatred, or feelings of worthlessness.

If the patient is prone to depression due to demoralization, individual signs of major depression may be observed. But even they do not allow us to talk about a disease that requires immediate help.

Is depression curable?

Yes, but it won't happen overnight. Depression can be successfully treated in most cases. Depending on the type of depression and the severity of the disease, treatment and the time required for recovery can vary greatly. Severe cases of depression are treated in psychiatric clinics with antidepressants and tranquilizers. Moderately severe and mild depression is treated with a combination of antidepressants and various methods of psychotherapy or psychotherapy alone. In difficult cases, complete relief from depression is possible within six months to a year. If medications are used in treatment, the time frame is reduced to 3-5 months. There is also ultra-short psychotherapy, which allows you to significantly reduce the symptoms of depression in 5-10 meetings with a psychotherapist (psychotherapeutic sessions).

Myth 2. If you suffer from depression, it means you are crazy and your place is in a madhouse

Now a word to the pessimists: depression is horror, horror, horror and a shame for life. The patient will definitely be put “in a psychiatric hospital”, in which they will be terribly tormented. Then they will inform you at your place of work, register you with a mental hospital, and your life will end there.

Firstly, depression, like any other disease, cannot be shameful. This is not the person’s fault, but a misfortune that happened to him. Being ashamed of her is the last thing.

Secondly, even with chronic depression, people are often hospitalized not in psychiatric hospitals, but in crisis centers, which in essence are more like a sanatorium rather than a hospital. Thirdly, they can be registered with a mental hospital (which is really not a problem) only in the case of repeated emergency hospitalizations with a suicide attempt.

Of course, everything also depends on luck - there are such crisis centers that the Gestapo dungeons are resting. There are times when people rush back to “rest.” There are psychiatrists who are understanding and competent, but there are others who make you run into the forest from them. But this applies to any field of medicine.

By the way, it is now simply forbidden to enter a diagnosis on a sick leave certificate. If you are concerned about the very name of the hospital “psychiatric” on your sick leave, then you can also omit it by agreement with the hospital management. There is always a stamp that only indicates the number of the hospital without specialization.

Not necessary. With adequate treatment of a depressive episode, you can forget about the disease. Forever.

This, I must say, is not entirely a myth. Even modern, fairly humane drugs designed to combat depression can have side effects, although psychiatrists try to choose treatment so as not to aggravate the troubles of their patients.

Most often, antidepressants cause headaches, dizziness, sweating, palpitations, increased sensitivity to light, loss of sexual desire, drowsiness, decreased or, conversely, increased appetite.

Most of all, patients are afraid of the latter. It is believed that taking antidepressants can cause a person to gain excess weight. But this is also possible with depression itself. Some people fear a loss of sexual desire, but even with depression it is difficult to be a sexual giant. In addition, side effects disappear immediately after the end of the course of treatment, and depression with its unpleasant symptoms can last for years.

There's not even anything to say here. Neither the old antediluvian ones, nor even more so the modern mild antidepressants, cause physiological dependence, except psychological dependence. But it doesn’t cause psychological dependence. Then we need to talk about the dangers of ascorbic acid. Look how the kids are getting hooked! They always ask moms in pharmacies for “big, tasty pills.”

Of course, serious medicines should not be sold without a prescription, but the need for invention is cunning - they get both the prescription and the medicines. The consequences of self-administration can be varied. The chance that medications will help is slim. And there's even less chance that they won't do any harm.

Antidepressants are powerful substances that the doctor selects individually. This is especially true for dosages.

What to do if the illness persists

You should not self-medicate, it can harm your health. If the selected treatment is ineffective, the disease can last for years. You should consult a psychiatrist. The doctor will make an accurate diagnosis, prescribe suitable antidepressants, and prescribe an individual dosage. If necessary, medications can be replaced during therapy.

Psychotherapy will also be required. Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in combating depressive conditions. This technique helps to identify destructive attitudes and behavior patterns and replace them with positive ones.

The support of your close circle is important. You cannot devalue the patient’s problem, deny the existence of the diagnosis, blame him or get angry because of the presence of a mental disorder. Need support. Social adaptation is of great importance: due to pathology, a person can interrupt communication with friends. To prevent bad thoughts and feelings from aggravating a person’s condition, you should protect him from possible stress, do not start conversations with him about your own problems, and do not compare circumstances.

The patient should avoid taking stimulants: alcoholic beverages, drugs. They can aggravate the condition and are often incompatible with medications.

It is important that the diet contains a sufficient amount of vitamins, since vitamin deficiency increases the severity of manifestations.