Psychotic Depression

Generally speaking, psychotic depression is as bad as depression can get. It’s a form of major depression whereby you lose touch with reality. Unfortunately, tragedy can occur unless others know what’s going on in your mind. Anyone who watches the news has seen mothers on trial for killing children because “God said she had to because they are possessed”. In other sensational trials, the devil has “spoken” to people and told them to do unthinkable acts or violence.

Psychotic depression has several common symptoms. They include the following.

• Hearing voices
• Delusional thinking
• Hallucinating
• Paranoia
• Delusions

When you have psychotic depression, your reality is different from others. You may believe space aliens are talking to you on your cell phone. Or you think the voices you hear are telling you to harm yourself. Obviously, you should not try to treat this type of depression on your own. Treatment will probably require some hospitalization and most certainly medication.

There is a new type of medication being used in cases of severe depression. It’s called atypical antipsychotic. They have worked in cases where SSRIs and tricyclics have not proven effective. This is good news for those with psychotic depression, because the often help those with the severest forms of depression. Unfortunately, they do have many possible side effects. A person taking one of these drugs must be monitored at all times. The side effects include the following.

• Facial tics
• Weight gain
• Movement problems
• Hypertension
• Blurred vision

This is not a comprehensive list, but gives you a good idea of the kind of side effects people are experiencing as a result of using the atypical antipsychotics. Unfortunately, when a person is hallucinating or has become suicidal, the use of medications is necessary even with the unpleasant side effects. Psychotic depression is a very serious disorder that can’t wait for the perfect treatment to be discovered. The good news is medical researchers are constantly looking for alternative treatments for psychotic depression.

Treatment for psychotic depression will be long and complicated. This is not something that can be handled easily which is why it must be treated by a doctor. When someone is psychotic, they cannot monitor their own treatment until they reach a certain level of mental wholeness.

If you or someone you know is experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, it’s imperative you seek treatment from a doctor. Though it’s a complicated disorder, it’s treatable most of the time. The doctor will probably prescribe medication in addition to another therapy such as group therapy or cognitive therapy. No one needs to suffer with this disorder alone when there are so many ways to treat psychotic depression.

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.