Depression is a normal reaction to sad and discouraging life events, but clinical depression is a serious medical condition that needs treatment by a doctor or psychiatrist. The question is, when is it appropriate to seek medical treatment. The answer should be that whenever a question about health concerns you to seek the advice of a doctor, but rising medical costs may prevent people from making an appointment with a doctor. A depression self assessment can help you to determine if it is time to make that appointment.
This article contains general information about symptoms of depression. The Mayo Clinic website offers a quick Depression Self Assessment to help you determine how serious your symptoms are. The self assessment, which is just .. questions long can help tell you if your depression is mild, moderate or severe. The Depression Self Assessment on the Mayo Clinic website is free to use and can be very helpful.
Just about everyone has occasional bouts of feeling down, related to sad or stressful events in their lives. Sadness is a normal reaction to events such as the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, financial stress and disappointment in any number of events. The depression related to life events is usually temporary.
Depression is more common in women and usually runs in families. Women can experience postpartum depression after the birth of a baby. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can cause depression during the winter months. Depression is also part of bipolar disorder.
The National Institute of Health lists some of the symptoms of depression on their website:
Symptoms of Depression
Little interest in activities you used to enjoy, including sex
Feeling down, depressed or hopeless
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness or hopeless
Feeling irritable or restless
Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
Feeling tired or little energy
Poor appetite or overeating
Feeling badly about yourself
Trouble concentrating
Slow movements
Thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts
Persistent aches and pains
This article contains general information about symptoms of depression. The Mayo Clinic website offers a quick Depression Self Assessment to help you determine how serious your symptoms are. The self assessment, which is just .. questions long can help tell you if your depression is mild, moderate or severe. The Depression Self Assessment on the Mayo Clinic website is free to use and can be very helpful.
Just about everyone has occasional bouts of feeling down, related to sad or stressful events in their lives. Sadness is a normal reaction to events such as the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, financial stress and disappointment in any number of events. The depression related to life events is usually temporary.
Depression is more common in women and usually runs in families. Women can experience postpartum depression after the birth of a baby. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can cause depression during the winter months. Depression is also part of bipolar disorder.
The National Institute of Health lists some of the symptoms of depression on their website:
Symptoms of Depression
Little interest in activities you used to enjoy, including sex
Feeling down, depressed or hopeless
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness or hopeless
Feeling irritable or restless
Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
Feeling tired or little energy
Poor appetite or overeating
Feeling badly about yourself
Trouble concentrating
Slow movements
Thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts
Persistent aches and pains
Comments
My experiences with counselors has been less that inspiring. And my only attempt at trying an antidepressant turned into a worsening nightmare. Absolutely awful. I don't think the "system" for addressing anxiety and depression is very well thought out. It's still a crapshoot.
I know someone who needs is seriously depressed and in denial. It is hard to know how to make them feel better at all, especially when there is justifiable reason to be depressed.
I suffer from Depression/anxiety disorder and it's a huge battle I have to deal with on a day to day basis, thak you for this article:)
I've been battling severe depression for years. It's a good thing that I got help for it because without it, I'd be dead.
As I see it (yes I have gone through depression) we have given away our power. I find that most people that have depression are people who are square pegs trying to fit into round holes, instead of being happy to be sruare pegs.
We have created a society that wants even more conformity than that of the 50's. However many of us have evolved past that conformity. We are humans first and if we trully see ourselves, societies standards are kinda silly as we have seen of late.
And yes a good psycologist can ask the right questions, but it is we who had the answers all along.
Oh yeah the drugs some side effects that seem far owrse than the cure, just saying.
You shouldn't let bad things in life bring you down
Important topic, Christine. But, I would add one more element: clinical depression can also be successfully treated by a psychologist. Here's a great article on how psychotherapy can help someone suffering from clinical depression from the American Psychological Association's Help Center: http://helping.apa.org/articles/article.php?id=49 . Again, thanks for writing about this important topic. Very timely, given the holidays.
Good info about an important topic.
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