Some personality characteristics of depressed patients and measures to deal with them

  Today, Thursday afternoon, my counseling clinic. I came across a case worth thinking about.  This patient, who had a past history of somatic discomfort and felt discomfort in her lower back, had hung up water outside before the onset of her illness. He had been hooked up to a certain type of water before, but after that visit, the doctor who saw him suggested changing to another type of water. As a result, the patient developed insomnia shortly thereafter, had difficulty sleeping, and experienced depressed mood, irritability, negativity, and decreased interest, showing typical characteristics of a depressive episode.  However, he did not consider that it was a depressive episode because he had been hooked up to a new medication before the episode and was convinced that this water caused his insomnia and led to his complaints of discomfort, even though it has been 3 months since this water was stopped until now. He was seen in our outpatient clinic and given antidepressant medication, but after 3 days of taking the medication, the patient stopped using it on his own. The reason for discontinuing it was because he was hitting himself in the face with internal irritation. At the time of this visit, the condition was so severe that he even appeared to want to die for years, and there was obvious crying in the conversation.  For the treatment of this patient, first of all, we patiently explained to him the occurrence of depression, informing him that it was not too related to the drugs he used in other hospitals before, on the one hand, because this drug is also very widely used in our hospital, and this situation has not occurred, and even if there are individual differences, the discomfort caused by drugs in general will disappear after a period of discontinuation, and will not present a continuous aggravation of the situation. Several analogies were made during this period, and the explanation was very detailed and to the point. However, it did not work for this patient, who remained stubborn and unmoved by his own views. I again patiently explained the characteristics of the onset of depression. After the patient had some understanding of his condition, he was sad, but still believed in his own view. At this point, I knew that this patient was trapped in a negative mood and would selectively look at only the negative side of the problem. Therefore, it is necessary to change this negative emotion. When the patient’s sadness is severe and negative perceptions exist, it is obvious that psychotherapy alone will become weak and therefore a combination of antidepressant medication is needed. Considering the character of this patient, the possible adverse effects of this drug were patiently explained to the other, the time of onset of action was informed, as well as the characteristics of the efficacy. As for, how effective, it remains to be seen.  Here, I would like to summarize two points: 1, although we now advocate the medical model is the biopsychosocial model, but the patient should be based on the characteristics of each disease itself, to understand the biological, psychological and social factors in which may account for the role, do not generalize the recognition of a point, otherwise the delay is their own condition, the damage is their own health.  2. As doctors, when we happen to be unable to agree with the patient on a particular issue, at least not in the short term, we can first address their pain and resolve what is mutually agreed upon, and then take it one step at a time. Sometimes, it is important to know that Rome was not built in a day.