Depression is known as the disease of the century. No wonder it has this nickname, after all, it incapacitates millions of people around the world. Because of this, having knowledge about this disease is essential.
It can affect anyone. It could be your relatives, your friends or even you. So it never hurts to know about something so important. Knowing about the basics of depression empowers anyone to better understand the problem, as well as being able to identify symptoms faster.
So how about understanding a little more about depression? I will deal with the basic topics of the question and I will also bring a little of my professional experience to complement the information.
What is depression?
Depression is characterized by the loss or decrease of interest and pleasure in life. It is worth mentioning that this often occurs, even without apparent cause, so it is necessary to pay attention to the symptoms present. In addition, it tends to be chronic and recurrent, but it is important to note that this happens, especially when left untreated.
It is a highly prevalent mental illness that affects people of any age, sex and ethnicity, although it is more frequent in women. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 320 million people have already been diagnosed with the disease and cases have increased by more than 18% in the last 10 years.
In this sense, after 21 years of clinical experience, I can say that many people come to seek psychological help without even understanding what started all that feeling that life has lost its fun.
In addition, it is common to witness that patients feel a great lack of courage and hopelessness. In fact, they often do not even believe in the treatment of the disease, such is their pain and sadness.
present symptoms
The diagnosis of depression is clinical. Therefore, a complete anamnesis of the patient is performed to find out if he has the disease. It is worth mentioning that there are no laboratory tests to diagnose depression, therefore, the figure of the health professional is essential.
Therefore, it is important to pay attention to symptoms to identify depression as soon as possible. In fact, there are a large number of symptoms that can be isolated or associated with each other. In this way, I will try to expose the most common ones. Are they:
– Feeling of sadness;
– Feelings of guilt and self-devaluation;
– Lack of energy, laziness or tiredness;
– Slower thoughts, lack of concentration, lack of memory, will and initiative;
– Insomnia or drowsiness;
– Anxiety and anxiety;
– Low self-esteem;
– Change in appetite;
– Decreased sexual interest;
– Physical pain and symptoms (malaise, chest pain, tachycardia and sweating).
Causes of depression and risk factors
Depression doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. Therefore, it is necessary to understand what can lead a person to develop the disease. Thus, it is possible to observe that depression can have three major causes: genetic, biochemical or psychological.
From the point of view of genetics, it occurs when within a family there are more people with symptoms. Studies reveal that the chance of developing the disease within the same family is around 40%.
When talking about biochemistry, we are talking about a deficiency of neurotransmitters, that is, of brain chemicals that are related to motor regulation, appetite, sleep and mood. These neurotransmitters are noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine.
And then we come to the psychological causes. They can be traumatic events with great physical and psychological stress or events with very strong emotional content, such as divorce, bankruptcy, job loss, sudden financial change or death of a very close person.
About this, I observe people as a unique and special being. That is why the therapeutic work is so important at this time, as it is possible to have a better understanding of the cause of each case. Each person differs from the other, so the assessment will be able to delimit what a particular individual is going through.
In addition, it is worth commenting on the risk factors for depression. In talking about this, I want to point out what can contribute to the development of depression. After all, if we are more prone to this, we can take a more careful look at ourselves.
In this sense, family history, related psychiatric disorders, chronic stress, chronic anxiety, hormonal dysfunctions, alcohol and drug use can increase the chances of someone having the disease.
types of depression
Not all depression is the same. Therefore, it is important to note some differences between them to make the correct diagnosis. So I’m going to quote them here so you can see the variety of possibilities when we talk about depression.
– Dysthymia: it is a milder and chronic condition. Complaints of tiredness and discouragement prevail most of the time. Symptoms such as lethargy and lack of pleasure in things that were once pleasurable are common. It usually starts in adolescence or early adulthood;
– Endogenous depression: characterized by the predominance of symptoms such as loss of interest or pleasure in normally pleasant activities. Worse in the morning;
– Atypical depression: presents an inversion of symptoms, that is, there is an increase in appetite and/or weight gain, in addition to people having difficulty falling asleep or drowsiness. Heaviness is also common;
– Seasonal depression: characterized by onset in autumn/winter and remission in spring, being uncommon in summer;
– Psychotic depression: it is severe and  characterized by the presence of delusions and hallucinations;
– Secondary depression: associated with or caused by systemic diseases and/or medications;
– Bipolar depression: Most bipolar patients start the illness with a depressive episode. The earlier the onset, the greater the chance that the individual is bipolar.
Notions of treatment
Well, it is important to emphasize that the treatment is drug and psychotherapeutic. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the degree of depression: if it is mild, doctors refer only to therapy; if it is medium to severe, medication is necessary. When the treatment is done well, that is, following the medication and attending therapy, the rate of remission of the disease is very high.
It is necessary to comment on one thing: if you are diagnosed with depression, do not despair. Attend therapy with a professional you trust and in which you feel welcomed and don’t forget your medication.
I have to emphasize: never stop treatment before medical and psychological discharge; because an interrupted treatment is much worse. In these cases, the person can have a recurrence of the disease and, often, it reappears in a more severe form than the previous one, in addition to the risk of becoming chronic.
Psychological follow-up will seek to identify the causes of the problem and how it can be dismantled. It is important mainly because the medicines can take a while to work.
Acting on prevention
It is important to control stress and share the difficulties of everyday life. Reading, learning new things, having hobbies and having fun help keep your mind active and free from negative thoughts or excessive worries.
Taking care of the body reflects on mental health. The advice is to practice physical activity, even because studies attest that they encourage the release of hormones and other substances important for maintaining mood.
The recommendation is to have a healthy lifestyle, with a balanced diet and regular practice of physical activity. To combat stress, it is important to make time in your schedule for pleasurable activities.
When you notice some different behaviors, seek professional help. The sooner you are treated, the better, because the less suffering you will have. Don’t be afraid to go to the psychologist, we are prepared to help people in this time of crisis.
The self-knowledge that is carried out within therapies helps in many life issues. The benefits are numerous. The causes will be treated and the transformation in the person is very great.
