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Video: Depression Already Or Not Yet? - The Quality Of Life
Depression affects a quarter of the world's population. But despite the prevalence of depression, patients themselves and their loved ones often do not have complete information about the disease. I propose to talk about this:
- What is depression?
- What types of disease are there?
- What to do if an illness befell you or your loved one?
Types of depression
1. Adjustment disorder
Imagine that one "fine" morning you wake up and do not feel the usual tone and motivation for activity. Do you think this is already depression? You should not rush to hang some labels on yourself, it is quite possible that they are from other people's clothes.
In this situation, you need to observe yourself for one to two weeks. If you understand that there is no gap in the state, that it is homogeneous and monotonous, it makes sense to wonder if this is depression. It is likely that you are simply overworked at work and at home, shouldering a burden that you cannot handle. Or maybe you quarreled or even broke up with some significant person for you, changed your place of residence, study, moved to another city or district? If something from the proposed list of events came up as a preamble to a decrease in your vitality, it is quite possible that what is happening to you is just an adjustment disorder.
When I write "only," I do not mean that adjustment disorder itself is so harmless. It happens that this diagnosis is enough for hospitalization of a person, it all depends on how exactly his behavior changes in connection with such a disorder. But it is treated, as a rule, quickly, the discharge occurs within two to three weeks, and the person does not need further psychotropic drugs.
Irina moved to Moscow with her husband and young son. At first, the woman was happy with the rhythm of the metropolis, but six months later she noticed that she was more and more yearning for her hometown. Alienation arose between the spouses, Irina began to treat her four-year-old son colder. Here is how she describes her feelings: "I began to catch myself thinking that they (husband and son) are not at all so dear to me as before." Once the child fell ill, Irina called a doctor and he, drawing attention to the unusual detachment of the young mother, advised him to see a neurologist. The neurologist referred her to psychiatrists. The inpatient treatment brought quick relief, the diagnosis of adjustment disorder was not in doubt, and the patient was discharged after two weeks.
2. Psychogenic depression
And now let's imagine that your state lasts not one or two, but three or more weeks and, in addition to a decrease in mood, is accompanied by an aching feeling of melancholy, a total lack of something vital, vital. There is a feeling that you possessed something very valuable, but then suddenly, overnight, you lost it and were left with empty hands and a wounded heart.
In this situation, it is already appropriate to talk about a depressive state, but it is important to analyze the events in your life that led to the occurrence of such an unpleasant situation. Perhaps a person who is very dear to you has died or died, you have lost your favorite job, black realtors have evicted you from your apartment, etc. Such depression is called psychogenic, that is, provoked by external unfavorable circumstances.
Maria, who underwent maternal overprotection in childhood, was formed as a dependent person, and by the age of 30 she simply could not imagine how she could live without her mother's "wise leadership". Mother died in her daughter's jubilee year, and Maria suddenly felt "a pressing emptiness in the sternum and a lack of understanding where to move on." Being in this state, she at first tried to fight him with alcohol, but then, when the problems only added, and the depression did not recede, she turned to a psychiatrist. Since her depression was clearly psychogenic in nature, Maria was treated for less than a month and was no longer hospitalized. My recommendation when I was discharged was to attend personal therapy with the aim of “growing up” and getting out of the child's position.
3. Endogenous depression
But there is another type of depression that I consider the queen of this disease. It is about endogenous depression. It has internal causes of occurrence, independent of the external events of life.
Such depressions are of three degrees of severity: mild, moderate, and severe. In mild to moderate severity, people may even continue to go to work and do some simple household activities. It is a simple one, it is hardly possible to re-glue the wallpaper or sew curtains.
But if a person is overtaken by a severe degree of depression, his condition should cause serious anxiety on the part of his loved ones and relatives. A person lies in a layer, practically does not leave the house. His suffering is so great that he is not able to see other people with their stupid laughter, joyful emotions - all this causes great irritation in the sick person and a desire to hide in his shell. If left at home and not hospitalized, the condition will worsen and lead to suicidal thoughts.
From early childhood Elena felt her difference from her peers, manifested in the fact that sometimes she was “as if replaced”, the light became not nice, and her mood swung like a pendulum - from exalted uplifted to low and back. The girl's mother suffered from schizophrenia and was treated in a hospital twice a year, and Elena thought that her longing for her mother was manifested in her mood swings. But at the age of 25, the condition began to worsen, once it decreased, the mood did not improve. The girl had to skip school, citing either a fictitious cold or back pain. Once she accompanied her mother to the PND and the psychiatrist, drawing attention to Elena's mournful facial expressions, invited her to his office for a conversation. The girl said that she has been in this state for more than a month and, moreover, begins to think about suicide. Elena was hospitalizedthe treatment took three months. Now, as soon as a girl feels an approaching depressive symptomatology, she independently follows a referral to a hospital.
It's not that bad
With timely and competent treatment, depression will pass, and even memories of it will be erased from memory for the entire period of remission. It is important to remember that the quality of your life depends on yourself and if you listen to your doctor's recommendations and take long-term supportive therapy, remission can last ten or more years. If therapy is abruptly canceled (without consulting a doctor), the depressive episode may return and even manifest itself in an even more severe form than the previous one.
In any case, you do not need to be afraid of depression, whatever its origin, this disease is now being successfully treated. All you can do is entrust the treatment of the disease to experienced professionals.
