What is depressive disorder?
Depressive disorder is a group of mental disorders with depressed mood as the main symptom due to various causes. Its core manifestations are low mood, difficulty in cheering up, reduced interest, and increased fatigue, lack of energy or reduced activity.
Depressive disorders are often accompanied by a cluster of somatic symptoms.
Sleep disorders: mostly manifested as early awakening and, in a few cases, excessive sleep, but no relief after waking up from sleep.
Physical discomfort: dizziness, headache, chest tightness, stomach pain, bloating, indigestion, pain in the limbs and shoulders and back.
Decreased appetite or significant weight loss, with a small percentage of patients showing increased appetite and obesity.
Decreased libido.
Symptoms may show a pattern of heavy morning and light night.
What are the treatments for depression?
Medication: tricyclics, SSRI, SNRI, NaSSA and other antidepressants Psychotherapy: cognitive-behavioral therapy, hypnotherapy, family therapy, etc. Other treatments: physical therapy (including biofeedback, transcranial magnetic stimulation, work-play therapy, etc.) Relationship between depression and other related diseases Depression is an important risk factor for stroke and can impede recovery from stroke; patients with Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases are prone to depression. Patients with Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases are prone to depression; depression can delay the recovery of existing diseases and affect the prognosis of various physical diseases.
How should family members treat depressed patients?
Fully understand that depression is not a disease of the mind, not a weakness of will, and not a “pretend disease”.
Understand the patient’s pain and do not blame or criticize.
Encourage the patient to express his or her pain, and encourage confession. Accompany and listen more.
Encourage the patient to seek help from the doctor and urge the patient to take the medication as prescribed by the doctor.
Work with the patient to develop a realistic daily activity plan and encourage its implementation. Never force the patient to do activities that he/she currently has difficulty doing.
For patients who have strong suicidal ideation or even suicidal behavior, have someone to watch them throughout the day to ensure their personal safety.
How can patients face depression?
Early recognition: Pay attention to the symptoms and consult a professional or seek medical attention as early as possible to achieve early recognition and recovery.
Correctly face it: Recognize that it is a treatable disease, face it correctly and build up confidence in treatment and recovery. Patients will not “split” or become “crazy”.
Active treatment: Take medication as prescribed by the doctor and cooperate with the doctor in psychological adjustment.
Proactive prevention: strive to improve your personality and exercise your ability to adapt.
Anxiety disorders anxiety is a normal part of life, the experience of anxiety is very normal, moderate anxiety will be conducive to the performance of talent, even when the situation requires that there should also be high anxiety, the body uses this method to tell us that something is not quite right. It can remind us to act quickly to escape or avoid danger. But for some people, anxiety can be persistent, irrational and irresistible. Anxiety can enter into every day activities and even ruin daily life. This can be a sign of some kind of anxiety disorder.
What is an anxiety disorder?
Anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorders. According to authoritative sources, the annual prevalence of anxiety disorders ranges from 5.8% to 8.8% in most countries, 4.3% in Zhejiang, China, and 5.3% in Hebei.
It can develop at any age, but often starts in a person’s adolescence or twenties, and the rate of anxiety disorders in women is about twice that of men.
We often refer to anxiety as an irritable mood, which manifests itself as fidgeting and worrying as if something terrible is about to happen, often accompanied by headache, dizziness, panic attacks, shortness of breath, easy sweating, dry mouth, frequent urination and other physical discomfort, etc. This is what we call anxiety. For situations that are uncertain, troublesome or feel caught off guard. If you are in a state of anxiety, tension and indignation for a long time, it can cause a variety of diseases and affect the quality of people’s lives. Then it is likely that you are suffering from anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders can cause extreme fear or worry, which can interfere with a normal lifestyle.
Treatment for anxiety disorders Treatment for anxiety disorders includes psychotherapy or medication or a combination of both. The good news is – treatment works for both! With sufficient time and patience, approximately 90% of patients who receive guidance from a medical professional will recover and be able to live an energetic and colorful life.
What is panic disorder?
A panic attack will make you feel panic, palpitations, chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness, lightheadedness, sweating, weakness, shivering, fever, or even chest pain, a feeling of pressure in the chest; or difficulty breathing, blocked throat, unable to breathe, about to suffocate, etc. At the same time, there is a strong sense of fear, feeling that you are about to die, or about to lose your mind, this tension makes you unbearable, and therefore scream and call for help. This feeling comes and goes quickly, usually lasting 5-20 minutes, rarely more than an hour. After the attack, these symptoms will disappear and you can go on with your life. After a panic attack you will be exhausted and will be worried about having another one.
Panic disorder is also a type of anxiety disorder and often exists in conjunction with other mental and physical disorders, including other anxiety disorders, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, and substance abuse, which can make it more difficult to diagnose and treat panic disorder.
Coping with anxiety
Whether you have general anxiety or suffer from an anxiety disorder, the following strategies can be helpful.
Relax, and relax again. Take deep breaths, listen to music, do some recreational activities, etc.
Exercise appropriately. Take a walk or jog, yoga, dance, just get moving.
Learn to divert your attention. Talking to people, talking on the phone, etc. can take the uneasy emotions away at the time.
Talk to people to release stress. With your spouse or other people, such as friends, children or doctors are fine.
Keep a journal. Look for what triggers your anxiety.
Eat a balanced diet. Don’t miss a single meal. Refuse caffeine, which can trigger anxiety symptoms.
Somatoform Disorder What is somatoform disorder?
Somatoform disorder is a neurological disorder characterized by a persistent worry or belief in the predominance of various somatic symptoms. In this case, the patient repeatedly goes around to the doctor for these symptoms, and various medical tests with no abnormal findings and explanations from the doctor do not dispel the patient’s doubts and worries about his or her various discomfort symptoms. Even though sometimes the patient does have a physical illness, it does not explain all of the patient’s symptoms and their extent.
For example, a patient presents with recurrent episodes of chest tightness and chest pain, but there is no evidence of corresponding lesions on cardiac-related tests, yet the patient is still very worried about his illness and seeks medical advice everywhere, and treatment according to coronary artery disease is not effective. We then assumed that the patient had a somatoform disorder.
These somatic symptoms are thought to be the result of psychological conflicts and personality tendencies, but for patients, they often refuse to acknowledge the possibility of a psychological etiology even if the symptoms are closely related to stressful life events or psychological conflicts. Also, patients are often accompanied by anxiety or depression.
Treatment of somatoform disorders actively cooperates with treatment and builds confidence in treatment.
Psychotherapy: This is the main form of treatment, through which patients gradually understand the nature of the disease they suffer from, change their misconceptions or reduce the influence of mental factors, so that patients have a relatively correct assessment of their physical condition and health status.
Medication: It is important to take medication as prescribed by the doctor.
Other biofeedback, transcranial magnetic stimulation, acupuncture and physiotherapy are effective for some patients.