What is Depression?

Treatments for Depression

There are many treatments for depression and usually more than one is used at a time. The most common treatments today include the following.

• Cognitive therapy
• Group therapy
• Medication
• Behavioral therapy
• Interpersonal therapy

Most of the treatments for depression include keeping a journal as a first step and even an activity log when the depression is severe enough to prevent you from completing critical activities. A log can be an important tool for both you and/or your therapist in order to identify the triggers of depression. It can also be a good way to get your life back on track.

One of the benefits of using journals and logs in the treatments for depression is that it forces you to undertake an activity to improve your life. This can be very important when depression has interfered with your ability to think or function normally. For example, if you keep a log of what you’re feeling and of your thoughts, it becomes easier to identify the negative thinking that spirals out of control. A journal can reveal things such as feelings of failure or anxiety. With the identification of the thoughts, a therapist can then help you seek the cause of the lack of self esteem.

An activity log is a useful log during any of the treatments for depression for keeping track of what must be done in your life to keep it on track. People with depression often decide they don’t care anymore about any one or any thing. Unfortunately, this can have dire consequences if you don’t pay bills or deposit money in your bank account. Some people with depression don’t just neglect themselves either. They neglect important tasks such as picking up the kids at school. The can even decide eating is too much trouble. That’s why some people with depression can have sudden and severe weight loss.

When people get depressed, the mind focuses on dark and deep thoughts that are usually self-critical. If you tell yourself you’re unable to do anything right, the next logical thought is: why try? That is how depression works. It gets deeper and deeper if left untreated. Except for medication, the treatments for depression assist people with changing their thought patterns so they see themselves as capable and positive.

It’s hard for someone who’s never had depression to understand how deep the mental hole can get. When you keep a journal and activity log, you can learn to set simple goals that are easy to meet. The slow decline into the black hole is reversed so you can begin the upward climb to the light. It’s done one step at a time. There’s no instant cure for depression. Even medication takes time to work.

Major Depression

Depression comes in many forms covering the spectrum from mild to severe. At one end is very mild depression which is more like a continuing state of sadness. You don’t stop eating or refuse to participate in any social activities. You probably don’t enjoy anything you agree to do. Major depression, on the other hand, can be debilitating. You not only don’t have any joy in your life, you might not even want to get out of bed.

When you see commercials for major depression on television, the person is portrayed as lifeless. He or she just sits and stares or doesn’t interact with family. The wife may talk to the husband, and he doesn’t even hear because the mind is in a black hole. It’s like being slowly suffocated and unable to come up for air.

Major depression can affect everything in your life. It impacts how you view yourself. It can interfere with your life activities. It can destroy relationships with family and friends. It can even cause physical harm. If you stop eating and lose too much weight, the situation is exacerbated. Already immobile from major depression, the lack of proper nutrition erodes energy levels even further.

Major depression is also called major depressive order. It’s diagnosed when you have certain symptoms that most likely occur every single day. There’s no break from the depression. These symptoms include things like inability to sleep, chronic fatigue, low or no self esteem, and being able to make even small decisions that were regularly made in the past. The symptoms will last over 2 weeks and show no abatement as time goes by.

The symptoms of major depression are about changing patterns of behavior and thoughts. Things you could do in the past are now too difficult. You don’t really care about anything around you and just don’t want to be bothered. Instead, someone with major depression dwells on all the negative thoughts about him or herself.

One of the worst symptoms of major depression is the development of thoughts of suicide. That’s why it’s so important to intervene with treatment when you suspect someone you love has major depression. The person may not even recognize what’s going on. But if you have any thoughts about suicide, then you need to get help immediately.

The good news is that treatments will work with major depression. Severe cases of depression are almost always treated with medication combined with other forms of help. Antidepressant medications work very well, and once they begin to take effect you will find yourself ready for other treatments such as cognitive and behavior therapy.

What is Depression?

Sometimes it can be difficult distinguishing between the normal emotional ups and downs that people experience as part of life and depression. But when you begin to suspect that you should feel much better than you do about yourself and your world, taking a depression test can provide important direction.

Depression does not have one form. It can take many different forms in terms of symptoms, and no two people are alike. But there are certain symptoms that frequently occur and can serve as measures of your emotional status. If nothing else, taking a depression test can help you decide if you need to see a doctor. Another benefit of utilizing a depression test as a barometer of your emotional state is that if you are experiencing depression, it may be hard for you to define your symptoms.

The depression test is merely a checklist of symptoms you identify as being applicable to your situation. It can be amazing how many people are actually unaware they have a mild case of depression or don’t realize how much their life has changed due to depression. There are so many manifestations of depression that it’s impossible to list them all.

The depression test can be used by the person who suspects they are experiencing depression or by family or friends who aren’t sure how to recognize depression in someone they love. It’s important to identify depression as early as possible, because depression will get worse. The general rule of thumb is to consider if you have experienced several of any of the following symptoms for longer than 2 weeks.

• Thoughts your life is spiraling out of control
• Believing your life is unimportant
• Convinced no one would miss you if you were to die
• Can’t make any decisions – even small ones
• Don’t anticipate anything at all as being enjoyable
• Feeling ashamed all the time
• Experiencing frequent and unexplained crying
• Can’t enjoy being with friends or attending events
• Stopped exercising
• Giving up things once enjoyed
• Avoiding people whenever possible
• Feeling alone all the time
• Doesn’t enjoy being with family anymore
• Feeling like no one understands you
• Losing appetite
• Unable to sleep or sleeping too much
• Having no energy

The depression test can include many more symptoms, but this gives you a good idea of the kinds of things you would take into consideration. As you can tell from the list, depression affects a lot more than just your emotions. It can affect your body and your relationships too.

Once you take the depression test, the next step is to begin tracking the mood changes. By creating a mood diary, there’s now something very tangible and quite convincing to show a doctor or therapist. It also provides you a clear picture of what’s happening and that can be very therapeutic in itself.

Causes of Depression

There are many theories about the causes of depression, but none of them are definitive. In other words, even medical researchers to this day don’t know for sure what causes depression. They continue to study the disorder though and great progress has been made towards narrowing the search. In the final analysis, a person gets depressed because of many causes and not one.

Current medical theories cover the gamut of possibilities. Some doctors believe depression might be an inherited trait. In other words, genetics plays a role in whether or not experience depression. It’s not uncommon to hear people say they have several members of a family who have been diagnosed with depression over the years. There’s not a “depression gene”, but we all inherit certain personality traits. In addition, some genes apparently affect the production of serotonin in the brain and are suspect as a cause of depression.

The possible causes of depression also include possible childhood experiences. For example, if you were physically, emotionally or sexually abused then you might have very well developed your dark thoughts at a young age. It would be easy to see why you view the world as hopeless. Another theory says that parents who are excessively strict and inhibiting raise children who are unable to socialize normally. This can lead to social dysfunction and withdrawal.

Still another one of the causes of depression is related to biology. The body is designed to respond to perceived threats quickly. The brain produces chemicals that enable the body to either take a stand or flee (fight-or-flight response). When these chemicals are not produced at the right time and in the right quantity, the result can lead to a chemical imbalance and depression. But related to this biological cause is the ability of the body and mind to handle stress. If you have suppressed feelings related to stress in your life, depression can ensue.

There are also many medical conditions reported to be causes of depression. Hyperthyroidism can lead to panic attacks and anxiety and affect your ability to cope with life. A sudden tragedy can also cause depression. If someone you love dies, your spouse leaves you or you are fired, depression can develop. Your self-talk and coping skills and ability to handle stress all impact how you respond to grief and tragedy.

Another one of the causes of depression is the use of drugs. Drugs like cocaine and amphetamines over stimulate the brain and lead to anxiety and depression. Some drugs are known to cause brain damage also and the brain is left in a perpetual state of imbalance.

Human beings are complicated and so are the causes of depression. Finding the cause in your life will take a determination to seek the source of your depression through one or more of the effective treatments.

Anxiety Depression: Learn How to be worry free

From a religious stand-point, Jesus once asked his 12 disciples: “Which of you by worrying can add a single strand of hair to your head?” Now, you may be of a religious background or possibly not, just, think about that statement and you would see why worrying, a main symptom of anxiety depression is quite unnecessary.

Reduced to its simplest form, what is worry? It is merely an unhealthy and destructive mental habit that- believe it or not folks-you weren’t born with but simply acquired out of practice. The good news is, with aggressive actions, as with any habit and acquired attitude; we can be worry free and eliminate it from our lives successfully.

In the words of Dr. Smiley Blanton, a noted Psychiatrist: “Anxiety depression is the great modern plague.” Other psychologists go on to say ‘worry’ a noted symptom of any form of depression, is the most subtle and destructive of all human diseases. While we worry excessively, we disintegrate our inner workings as humans and really put a lot of things out of order. Needless to say avoiding worry as a step of treating depression and anxiety will be the first step for our own benefit.

Anxiety Depression: Steps to take to be Worry Free:

The following steps should be used to deal with anxiety depression and its main symptom, worry. When used wisely and effectively, you’ll inevitably be successful at these natural depression help techniques.

1. Practice Mind-drainage: Empty your mind of pessimistic and negative thoughts, especially prior to going to and after waking up from sleep. This involves some degree of imagination friends. (the same imagination-mind you-that you are actually using to aggravate your present situation (didn’t realize that huh?). This mind-draining strategy cannot be overemphasized as I will let you know, if you fear something for a long period of time, it may actually come to pass. “For the thing which I feared has come upon me…” (Job 3:25)

2. Fill up the mind with powerful thoughts of faith and success to fill up the vacuum now left in the mind. You become a worrier by practicing it, you can be worry-free by practicing the opposite.

3. State positive things about those things you previously spoke negatively of.

4. Never take part in a worry conversation. Induce your conversation with faith and worry-free statements.

5. Make friends with optimistic people, practice prayer and meditation.

6. Exercise and eat right. You will be making yourself look and feel better and consequently stronger through the process for overcoming depression, anxiety and becoming worry free.

No one is saying things will be automatically changed overnight. No, it takes work. However with direct and equally aggressive actions as the destructive worry habits one may be indulging in, anxiety depression can be overcome and you too can be worry free if you believe in your mind you can.