Depression Tips

Understanding Depression

Depression may be defined as various feelings or combination of feelings such as sad, down, discontented, fed-up, or low. Generally people feel this at once or for short periods. When mood disorder in which feelings of wretchedness, failure, antagonism, or annoyance get in the way of daily life for a long time is termed as exact medical depression.

Substitute Names

Discouragement; Dejection; Sadness; Dimness; Downhearted; Mood changes

Degree and Symptoms

Depression can be grade in terms of severity — meek, moderate, or severe. The level of your depression can determine how you’ll be treated.

Following are the symptoms of depression:

• Extreme sleeping or trouble sleeping
• A striking change in appetite results in weight gain or loss
• Exhaustion and Tiredness
• Feeling of triviality, self - abhorrence, and inapt guilt
• Acute difficulty in concentrating
• Anxiety, impatience, and bad temper
• Lack of interest and withdrawal from typical activities
• Feelings of despair and vulnerability
• Chronic thought of death or suicide

Low down self esteem is common along with depression. Similar are unexpected burst of anger and lack of delight from activities that usually makes you happy, including sex.

The main types of depression include

• Major depression – In depression, 5 or more above listed symptoms must be there for at least 2 weeks, but in case of major depression, the symptoms are likely to continue for at least 6 months. (When less than five symptoms of depression are there for at least 2 weeks then such depression is classified as minor depression.)
• Dysthymia – it is a chronic and milder form of depression but it remains for a long time — generally as long as for 2 years.
• Uncharacteristic depression - depression accompanied by atypical symptoms, such as illusion (such as, hearing sounds that are not really there) or delusion (illogical thoughts).

Other forms of depression incorporate:

• Postpartum depression – some women feel a bit down after having a baby, but accurate postpartum depression is not very common.
• Premenstrual dysphoric disorder - depressive symptoms arise one week prior to menstruation and depart after menstruate.
• Seasonal affective disorder - crop up during the season of fall-winter and disappears during the season of spring-summer, probably due to the lack of sunlight.

Depression is more widespread in women than men, especially for the duration of the teen years. Men seem less often than women to seek help for feelings of depression. Thus, women have more cases of depression then men.

General Causes

Depression can also be genetic in some cases. This may be from learned behavior, heredity, or both. Even with a genetic tendency, it is usually a tense or sorrowful life that starts a depressive period.

Following may be the sources of Depression:

• Frustration at home, school or work (especially in teenagers, this may be due to failing a class, breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or unpleasant family atmosphere)
• Sudden demise of a friend or family member

Home Care

If your depression prolonged for 2 weeks or more then you should consult your doctor, who recommend treatment option. In any case of mild or major depression, the following self - care steps can help:

• Take sufficient sleep.
• Take a healthy, nutritious diet.
• Regular exercise.
• Avoid recreational drugs like alcohol, marijuana, and others.
• You may add cold water fish like tuna, salmon, or mackerel to your diet which are a rich source of mega-3 fatty acids.
• Take vitamin B9 (folate) in the type of a multivitamin 400 to 800 micrograms.

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Add comment January 4th, 2008

Treatment of Depression

Most important in the treatment is the right attitude of those who are in contact with the patient, also an accurate diagnosis. Some patients need to be in hospital, others can be treated as out- patients. If the cause is organic then attention must be given to the treatment of the physical illness.

Types of Treatment

Psychotherapy

This is communication between the trained person and the depressed person. It may be individual or group therapy. In group therapy several patients are invited to form a group. The group may be of in patients or of out patients, but they are get to know one another. As with other groups all should participate, but there should not be any forcing, and it may take time for a withdrawn or depressed patient to begin a talk.

Tranquiliser Drugs

These relieve symptoms but don’t cure the illness. They help to make the patient more co-operative so that he can benefit from psychotherapy including group therapy.

Electric Shock Therapy

This also relieves the symptoms and makes the patient easier to approach for psychotherapy.

Occupational Therapy

This provides activities and work either in the hospital or in the home.

Recreational Therapy

Provides indoor and out-door recreation for the mentally ill. The staff joins with the patients in these activities so that they are helped to adjust to the living with others.

Integration With General Health Services

Another trend is to admit patients with mental illness in general hospitals. Many hospitals now have a psychiatric department or at least a psychiatric O.P clinic.

Half –way houses are home like institutions which provide after care and protection. Efforts are made to help the depressed to its original life and provide supervised employment such as sheltered workshops. These houses offer a vital service in helping these persons to regain a place in society. Regular visits by trained persons for informal discussions with the family where a mentally ill person is living, is another promising trend. If the behavior of the patient again becomes abnormal, get the family to take him to the doctor without delay.

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Add comment December 28th, 2007

Human Brainpower - Crack Depression Problems

Some people feel massive intricacy in deciding what to do and resolving their depression problems. Accede to their tribulations and lack of solution continually hassle them. It is not because their problems cannot be resolved. It happens with them only because they don’t know how to resolve their problems, they are not able to see the vital issues and what is actually provoking their problems, or because they stick to the same approach to solve their problems, or they feel surrounded themselves by hurdles from all sides.

Lots of people suffer from doubt, and sometimes they are so powerful that it makes them doubt even for the most apparent facts and deductible consequences and they presume that it will happen exactly as they predict based on their past experiences.

Some people are not capable of thinking and looking for the solutions they do have. They find even the minimal obstacles into their way. They already think that nothing can be done to resolve their problems. They are not able to look for another solution; all the things appear impossible.

These people require help, but they don’t know how to seek help and even when they get it, they despise it entirely thinking that it will not work for them. Their negative approach affects their lives constantly and the accretion of unsolved problems stimulates deeper disappointments. They easily drop all their courage and remain in a terrible psychic condition, without understanding that what is the cause for their suffering.

Worse events take place when they make an effort to seek help, but that help is not sufficient for their case. They are tortured by the way of medicine that cannot cure their unhappiness, and by the way treatments that don’t match to their needs. This adds to their depression instead of releasing them from the hopeless condition they are in.

But if this could be realized to them that how much inferring their dreams would help, they wouldn’t suffer a lot without any hope of finding happiness and peace in their lives. Although, only a small number of people understand how dream interpreting can solve all our existential and psychic problems because this field is quite overlooked by many people and too distorted by many psychiatric therapist.

The true psychotherapy and the true solution for any problem can be found out only from the proper interpretation of the dream symbols.

Dream interpretation can help a person to resolve any problem since the unconscious that creates the dreams functions similar to a doctor who exactly knows each patient’s problem and the correct solution for each case. Besides that, the messages of the dreams expose how each person can build up the psychological functions that are in an atrophic condition in their mind. This improvement helps them see and understand all the perception of reality they couldn’t notice before. They become more logical and, therefore, become better able to guess, feel, think and capture the true sense of life.

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Add comment December 21st, 2007

Early Detection of Depression

The health worker should recognize the signs and symptoms related to depression.

Thinking disturbances include:

1. Incoherent talking showing that the person is unable to think clearly.
2. Irrelevant talk changing the topic in a confused manner.
3. Day dreaming in an unreal world of his own imagination.
4. False believes that can’t be corrected by reason or evidence.
5. Thoughts which the person knows don’t make sense and he cannot control them.
6. Fear and dread of certain situations, such as being in a crowd, flying, public speaking etc.

Consciousness disturbances include:

1. Insomnia: the depressed person in particular sleeps very little.
2. Confusion: The patient doesn’t seem to understand what is going on around him. He may misunderstand and may be upset.
3. Delirium: It is a state of mental disturbance with confusion.

Memory and orientation

Loss of memory is called amnesia. More often the lost of memory is for recent events. Amnesia may be sudden or come slowly. Depression may take various forms. There is a feeling of sadness and dejection. Mood swings from depression to happiness, and back again to depression. A mentally ill person may show some great excitement over some little thing which may not excite a normal person or the mood may suddenly change to unfriendly or aggressive behavior for no real reason.

Personality disturbance may be noticed in a change of a behavior. E.g. the husband may notice his wife’s behavior has changed and is causing problem in home. She may have become moody, suspicious, and dependent. Or in the work situation a person may have noticed to have changed and becomes irresponsible, careless, etc. The person may become depersonalized. He is not sure that what is he and what he is not. Due to depression he moves towards drugs. Additions to drugs or alcohol indicate that a person is unable to obtain enough satisfaction and self esteem in his personal life. He may not be aware of the serious effects of these drugs on his life of his addiction. Close relatives are the one who detects the early symptoms of depression in the patient.

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Add comment December 14th, 2007

Depression Normal and Abnormal Behavior

For a long time mental illness was thought to be caused by an evil spirit. It was something to fear and ashamed of. With scientific development we have the better understanding of what actually depression is.  It is now considered to be an illness needing treatment and care just like other illnesses.

Normal and Abnormal Behavior

It is not easy to differentiate between normal and abnormal behavior or between mental illness and mental health. Due to weakness in our personality or other causes, we behave abnormally at times. The chief sign of mentally ill person is that he/she is not able to adjust to life situations and cannot be responsible for his/her own affairs.

Causes Of Abnormal Behavior

1. Heredity seems to be an important factor in mental disorders. Behavior changes begin at adolescence or later.
2. Organic Brain Disorders, caused by such things as
3. Head injury
4. Tumor of the brain
5. Infection of the brain e.g. due to measles, rabies.
6. Alcohol, certain drugs and poisons cause changes in the behavior.
7. Brain development and function are affected both before and after birth by
8. Rubella and other effective agents.
9. Radiation –radio active contamination or too many X-rays,
10. Thyroid gland disorder of the mother causing the child to be cretin.
11. Deficiency of some B vitamins and of iodine has effect on the nervous system and behavior.
12. Physical handicaps and chronic illness affect the personality and are pre-disposing causes of some abnormal behavior.
13. Intelligence, children with very high or very low intelligence is often maladjusted and develops abnormal behavior.
14. Periods in life of stress and strain, especially adolescence, marriage, pregnancy and post natal period, change of life and old age, are times when abnormal behavior may occur.
15. Crisis in life such as death of the loved one, loss of job, broken marriage, accident or disaster cause some people to breakdown and unable to cope with the situation. This is more likely when personality is already weakened by the adverse experiences in early life.
16. Neglect of basic needs of infants and young children regards nutrition and all factors of physical, emotional and social development.

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Add comment December 6th, 2007

Depression Psychiatric Emergencies

The patient on whom the focus of the emergency is laid may be

1. Planning to take his own life- suicidal
2. Very excited and violent- the over active patient
3. Very dull and depressed- the under-active patient
4. A person who has too much alcohol

General principles of management that has to be followed

1. Protect the patient from harming himself and others
2. Be gentle and behave with full authority with patient
3. Make sure that one of the family member is responsible for the patient
4. As soon as possible refer the health centre or hospital

The Suicidal Patient

The patient should be protected from his planned behavior at any cost. Sharp instruments and poisons should be kept out of his reach. The patient can be allowed to move here and there but under proper supervision and control until he is taken to the health centre or hospital.

The Over-Active Patient

He may be confused and aggressive. He is not able to control himself, but if he is made to control forcefully than he becomes brat. Stopping him forcefully should be the last option. Instead, try to

1. Handle the patient in a quite, calm manner.
2. The patient should be protected from harming himself and others, by being firm but gentle.
3. His attention should be diverted from time to time. Offer him something to eat or drink.
4. Prevent noise and also the place around the depressed should not be crowded but at least one of the family members is always with him.

The Under-Active Patient

The patient has adopted an abnormal behavior. He is not able to go to toilet and also spoiled his clothes.

1. Talk to the patient and continue in the same tone if he doesn’t respond.
2. Give him food to eat and feed him if necessary.

The Patient Who Has Too Much Alcohol

The patient may be confused, restless and having false beliefs. He may be abusive and may become violent. He may injure himself without any reason or may be suicidal. In order to bring him back to his normal behavior he should be calmed and make sure that he is consistently supervised.

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Add comment November 29th, 2007

Observation with Different Patterns

1. Withdrawal Patterns

   Withdrawal may begin in early childhood or be noticed in a school child. The child is shy, nervous of strangers and too unsure of himself to show what he can do. He may be a day dreamer, not join in games and not make friends. The reason may be in a feeling of insecurity, of being not wanted, or lack of approval in early childhood.

   Withdrawal may be only temporary, as in an adult who turns down an invitation because he is afraid of a closer relationship.

   One form of withdrawal is that after some time they again retreat to a child level behavior.

   More serious withdrawal signs are:

   1. Sitting alone, day dreaming, indifferent to surroundings.
   2. The patient may not move for hours.
   3. There may be sudden change to excited behavior, acting silly, but he is an unreal world.
2. Aggressive Patterns

   Aggression is a common reaction in inter-personal relationships. Hostility and aggression goes together and are common to all of us. Children are very aggressive towards each other. They bite, kick, pull hair and hit.

   The aggressive person often

   1. Wants to dominate others,
   2. Responds to opposition with hostility,
   3. Is the one to start a quarrel,
   4. Tries to harm those he feels are his enemies
3. Anxiety Patterns

   Anxiety may be experienced in the conscious, pre-conscious, or unconscious mind. Anxiety is a very uncomfortable feeling. There may be feeling of fear or any unpleasant situation that may happen. There may also be vomiting, diarrhea and urinary frequency. Some people become over-active, while others are unresponsive, not moving. He is unable to make decisions.

4. Depressive Patterns

   Depression is a state of unhappiness, gloom and grief. A mood of depression is normal when there is some external cause such as loss of loved one. It often occurs in those with physical illness, especially when it is for a long time or the person is handicapped.

   In mild depression, the person

   1. Feels sad, and that nothing in life gives pleasure,
   2. Has no energy, feels not too well, but not physically ill,
   3. Cannot stop worrying,
   4. Feels ill and often very sad,
   5. Has lost his self esteem,
   6. may commit suicide,
   7. Loses weight.

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Add comment November 22nd, 2007

Acupuncture - Is It Effective treatment of Depression?

According to research and studies, acupuncture is found an effective treatment of depression. People who are severely or mildly depressed gain relief by the therapy of acupuncture.

Medication is also one of the most effective treatments of depression. Medication is effective for both depression and anxiety and proves to be very successful in both cases. However, generally people prefer to use natural cure whenever possible since medications do have side effects and also brings in toxic elements into the body.

So, because of the above mentioned drawbacks of medication people looks at the acupuncture therapy to fight depression. Scientific research supports the efficacy of acupuncture in reducing the severity of depression in patients. Although medical research doesn’t actually prove anything, it just supports the claims. If truth be told it is hard to decisively prove claims.

The study of acupuncture was conducted by the National Institute of Health, in 1998. Various acupuncture experiments were conducted on different patients. In these controlled experiments, all the patients who received acupuncture therapy for their depression collectively found a 43% fall in their depression symptoms. This proportion was 21% greater than the dummy control group. This implies that the acupuncture therapy have done something for the depression symptoms.

Theory on acupuncture and depression

How acupuncture helps in reducing depression? According to acupuncture therapy there are energy pathways in the body described as ‘meridians’. The blockage of these meridians results in several types of illnesses and anxieties. By the way of this therapy these clogged up meridians are unblocked by inserting needles into definite points along these meridians. When the energy starts flowing again, the symptoms of the illness subside. In this way acupuncture works to reduce depression.

There is another way to treat the depression without the needles. If people don’t want treatment with needles then they have another option in the form of acupressure for relieving themselves from depression. Acupressure is also equally effective as acupuncture. In this therapy there is no use of needles. It simply involves proper tapping of certain points on particular meridians with finger tips. One of the interesting thing about this therapy is that people can use this therapy on there own and in this way, they need not to pay to any professional for this treatment.

Acupuncture and acupressure may prove to be equally effective as psychotherapy or drug therapy in the treatment of depression.

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Add comment November 15th, 2007

Foods That Help Fight Depression

Depression has become one the biggest silent killer in this so called safe world. Almost 20% of Americans are likely to suffer from major depression sometime in there life. Depression is more common susceptible in women than men. Major depression also affects your health like weight loss, insomnia, irritability, and lack of interest in outside events.

To stabilize your mood you must adjust your food. For fighting depression high quality nutrition is the best defense.

You should take carbohydrate rich food. Lack of carbohydrate can lead to change in your mood, as it plays role in production of serotonin.

Fish, flax and eggs are good source as they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These play a good role in prevention of some cancers, heart diseases and stroke.

Low level of vitamin E is also a cause of depression. So vitamin E rich diet should be taken to reduce depression. Vitamin E rich resources are sunflower oil, soybean oil, peanuts, corn, oats, etc.

Folate has a key role in generation of serotonin. Folate rich sources are dark green vegetables such as peas and spinach. Legumes are also rich in folate. You should always prefer fresh food because packed foods have low nutritional value.

Besides these changes in your daily diet you can also use herbs into your diet. You can put some of these herbs directly in your food. Ginger is one of the oldest herb which treats depression in a very nice way. Rosemary oil is the number one choice of aroma therapists for treating depression. Rosemary is indirectly engaged in the stimulation of nervous system. Furthermore, it gives a very relaxing message.

It is also suggested to have vitamin B rich diet as much as possible. Vitamin B6 and B12 helps in keeping neurotransmitters level high, this intern help nerve cells communicate easily. This process plays a big role in reducing depression. Vitamin B food resources are spinach, okra, broccoli, asparagus, beans, soybeans, etc. Chicken and turkey are also rich source of Vitamin B6.
There is fruit known as noni which helps in keeping mind and body fit. This is a magical fruit which has more than 150 nutrients stored in it. It is consumed in a form of juice with water.

After taking all the above steps, if you are still suffering from the symptoms of depression there is no need to panic. Just go and consult a doctor.

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Add comment November 8th, 2007

Depression and The Signs of Suicide

Depression is likely life threatening psychological disorder which affects almost 18 million Americans every year. The frequency of deaths is approximately 11 per 100,000 people. This position comes only when a depressed patient is left untreated. In America alone the estimated cost of depression is $35-44 million per year.

People who have not lived with a person suffering from depression, or ever had blues in there life, can never know how deep and dark is the hole of depression is. A completely difficult and dark period of depression can make a person commit suicide, as it seems to be an easy way out.
It has been commonly seen that women suffer more than men from blues. But in case of suicides, men are much more ahead than women with a ratio of 4.5:1. The suicide rate is higher in old aged people above 85 years of age. However, it has been noticed as selective killer of youth too. Among the 15-24 years of age group it is the third leading cause of death and the second leading cause among the college students.

If you have a loved one or a friend who is suffering from depression and is shoeing some symptoms of suicide then you must watch for few things. You must be supportive and helpful to them. You must listened them and reassure them there worth. While being supportive you must take your beloved once or friend to there health care centre. In some cases hospitalization is necessary.

If the patient starts giving away favorite possessions and begins to start about suicide, this is a clear sign of suicide and this must be treated immediately. It shows that the patient has contemplated of harming himself. If they start ignoring you and there beloved ones, they stop taking there care and the things they always loved, and miss there work or school then these are negative signs related to suicide and depression. If you remark a change in there normal behavior to a depressive mood then you must take action as soon as possible.

Depression and signs of suicide also include guilt; changes in eating habits, anger and alterations in sleep habits, etc. These symptoms of depression and suicide should never be ignored. If you do so even by mistake then you can loose your friend or loved ones ending up with a successful suicide.

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Add comment November 1st, 2007