1. What is depression? Depression (depressive disorder) is a syndrome that manifests itself as more than two weeks of persistent and significant depressed mood (most of the day), decreased interest, insomnia (typically early awakening), decreased appetite/weight loss, fatigue, decreased energy, feelings of low self-esteem, decreased memory/distracted attention/difficulty making decisions, and other symptoms. Depressive states tend to refer to those states that do not yet reach depression, are relatively mild and have relatively few symptoms. The longer you take the medication, the more obvious the effect will be, and if the effect is definite, you can make the symptoms disappear completely, i.e. clinical cure. This is very important, many people think that it is enough to get better, but only to relieve a certain part of the symptoms can easily make the symptoms continue to remain and the disease is not cured, and not cured, the recurrence rate will rise in the future, if some symptoms can not disappear completely should find a doctor to regularly adjust the drug. After the symptoms disappear, it is necessary to consolidate the treatment, and the total course of treatment should be more than nine months to reduce the possibility of relapse. Do not stop the medication immediately after improvement. If the condition is mild, belongs to the depression state, not yet reached the degree of depression, the course of treatment can be reduced at your discretion. 3.Drugs are toxic? The role of drugs is to regulate the 5-HT, NE, DA, which are chemicals in charge of mood and appetite sleep in the brain. The side effects of antidepressant drugs are actually very small. Generally, the side effects of nausea and dizziness may be a little within the first week (or probably not), and then disappear. Antidepressants are not addictive/dependent, they do not “hurt the brain”, they do not hurt the liver or kidneys, they do not “make you stupid”, they are not stimulants, and they do not contain hormones. There are a lot of side effects written on the instructions, but the chance of occurrence is very low and can be ignored. 4, take medicine also? Many people do not understand why drugs can treat psychological problems, saying that they should rely on themselves and should think about it. In fact, if depressed people can easily think about it, it is not called depression, depression is like falling to the bottom of the well can not save themselves, the next person can not understand their pain feelings. Psychological activity is a product of the brain, and there is a lot of evidence that in depressed people, there is a relative lack of pentraxin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA) and other chemicals in the brain, which makes people’s own regulatory ability temporarily “malfunction” and causes a decrease in appetite, insomnia, fatigue or headache, back pain Depression can be treated and cured by antidepressants that regulate the balance of these chemicals in the brain. Depression is actually a real disease, not just inability to think about it. Generally, when people encounter something they can’t think about, they will unconsciously mobilize their self-regulation system and generally think about it after a few days, and it won’t last so long. It will improve on its own. 5.What should I do if I don’t take medication? Do not easily lose confidence in drugs. In fact, the dose is not enough, the course of treatment is not enough, if it is enough, there is also a problem of efficiency of the drug, the drug is not good, you should seek a doctor again to try other drugs. 6, stimulated to get depression? No, it is not. Depression is like a cold, you don’t have to catch a cold to get it. Depression is often unexplained, and sometimes it is caused by hormonal changes in women after childbirth or during menopause, or by the long-term application of certain drugs (such as reserpine, hormones, interferon, etc.). People who are depressed are mostly talented people, not people who can’t think straight and are cautious. Many prominent celebrities have suffered from depression. The more certain ones are: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Clinton, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Crown Princess Diana, Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway, Yasunari Kawabata, host Cui Yongyuan, comedian Robin Williams. 7.Do I need to get well? If work and study is very distracting, or really can not cope, you can take a break. But even rest is not recommended to always lie in bed, so that negative thoughts will be like fermentation more and more, it is recommended to participate in swimming, jogging, jumping rope and other sports, stick to them, they have a good anti-depressant effect. If fatigue is significant and you do not have the strength to carry out these activities, it is good to go for a walk in a place with good air. When depressed, whether it is emotional or physical discomfort or fatigue, the more you stay, the more serious, appropriate to go out for a walk, to get some air. 8, diet attention various vegetables + various fruits. Do not eat too greasy. Eat completely vegetarian can also be. 9, suicidal thoughts Due to the extreme lack of belief in the world and their own future, suicidal thoughts are common in depressed people. As long as you actively cooperate with the treatment, depression can be completely cured, and even sometimes it can heal itself, and everything will return to the way it used to be. Never hurt yourself, let alone give up on life! Be sure to keep going! The darkest moment before the dawn is indeed very helpless and difficult, but the night will pass! 10.How to stop the medication? Most antidepressants should be slowly reduced after reaching the course of treatment, it is not suitable to stop suddenly, otherwise many people will feel uncomfortable. I should say the slower the better. If you take 2 tablets a day of a certain drug, you can cut down 1/4 tablet every 1-2 weeks. However, it should be noted that the dose must be reduced only after a full course of treatment, do not consider reducing the dose after a little better, and in the end, the benefits are often not worth the losses. 11, the wrong decision People in a depressed mood, do not make any major decisions. This is very important! Because the decision at this time, often extremely negative, will certainly make people regret. The most wrong decision at this time is to give up on life, and there are such things as quitting your job, dropping out of school, getting a divorce or breaking up, etc. It is recommended that this time to throw aside the problems encountered, go first to take care of themselves, wait until the treatment takes effect when the emotions improve and then make a decision is entirely too late to make the wrong decision to regret it! 12, unexplained fatigue and a variety of uncomfortable physical sensations Depression can cause these physical discomfort, such as fatigue, such as headaches, chest pain, chest tightness (always want to gasp), back pain, abdominal pain, etc. Many people suffer from these symptoms for a long time, see a lot of doctors, do a lot of tests, spend a lot of money are not found to have any disease, in fact, after asking, they often sleep very poorly, emotional These uncomfortable feelings are actually behind the depression (still related to the dysregulation of 5-HT and NE substances in the brain), and with the antidepressant treatment, these symptoms will improve wonderfully after the mood is relieved. 13.Is depression a mental illness? No. It is not. It is simply a mood disorder. Depression is actually much more common and widespread than we think, with one U.S. study saying that 20% of adults have suffered from depression at some point in their lives. This means that one in five people have had or are having depression. Depression is actually nothing to be afraid of, and this disease is not difficult to treat at all. What is scary is the bad decisions made at this time as mentioned above.