A friend left a message on WeChat saying, “I’ve been in a bad mood lately, and the thought of death always comes to mind, but I don’t have the courage to really die, if I die, what about my family? What’s wrong with me? Is it depression, should I go to the doctor …….” Is this state of my friend, wanting to die but not afraid to die considered depression?
This is to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. First of all, let’s talk about the definition and diagnostic criteria of depression.
Depression is a common affective mental disorder, dominated by significant and persistent depression, and accompanied by corresponding changes in thinking and behavior. Common clinical symptoms include.
① Loss of interest or unpleasant feelings ;
②Loss of energy or persistent fatigue;
(3) Decreased activity or sluggishness;
④ Excessive self-blame or guilt;
⑤ association, difficulty or inability to concentrate;
(6) Recurrent light-hearted thoughts or behaviors;
(7) Insomnia or early awakening;
⑧Loss of weight or appetite;
⑨ Decreased sexual desire.
If a person’s depressed mood lasts for two weeks or more, is accompanied by any four or more of the nine symptoms listed above, and the depressed mood is not caused by another illness, it is a typical depression.
In other words, if a person has thoughts of death, and the emotional state is consistently bad (more than 2 weeks), and he or she is not interested in anything, accompanied by physical symptoms such as decreased appetite, decreased libido, and sleep disorders, he or she should consider the possibility of depression, and it is recommended to go to a hospital to see a professional psychiatrist for early detection and treatment.
If you don’t have the clinical symptoms mentioned above, but just can’t think about it for a while and have bad moods and thoughts of death, you are not suffering from depression, but you should always pay attention to adjust your mind and do things that make you happy to adjust your mood and divert your attention, such as reading books, exercising, listening to music, etc.
References.
[1]Zhang Hongliu,Wang Tianfang,et al. A literature analysis of Chinese medical evidence of depression in the last 10 years [J]. Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2005,28(3): 79-81
[2] Wang R. H. Good mood is related to eating [J]. Open Book (Seeking Medicine). 2019,2: 61-62