Concept Depression is a mental disorder
We need a clear understanding of depression. And to say depression clearly, two concepts must be clarified first: emotion and state of mind.
Emotion, is the subjective experience of objective things. For example, if you are happy when you encounter something good, or angry when you encounter something bad, these transient sensory experiences brought about by specific reasons such as happiness and anger are emotions. The state of mind is the background, background color or tone of emotion, a relatively stable and lasting but not very strong emotional state. For example, some people will feel that for a while everything looks good and everything is energetic, then it can be said that his state of mind is very good.
Of course, even if the state of mind is very good, there will be happiness, anger and sadness. In other words, emotions are specific, transient and distinct, while the state of mind is persistent, stable and relatively hidden. If we compare emotions to waves on the surface of the water, then the state of mind is the undercurrents that surge beneath the waves. If you compare emotions to the temperature of a day, then the state of mind is the climate of a season. When you are depressed, what really goes wrong is the state of mind, not just the emotions.
A person who is in a bad mood can say he or she is depressed. But if the state of mind is persistently low, then it is depression. So in professional classification, depression is classified as a state of mind disorder.
Episodes The mood is frozen by the cold
When depression strikes, it is as if the whole climate is cold in winter, and the person’s mood is bad every day, but the feeling is different. Some people may feel upset, meaningless and uninterested in anything, and they may feel aggravated and sad and want to cry all the time; some people may feel tired and exhausted, and their bodies may feel drained. All the above feelings can also appear in one person at the same time.
Depressed people often become less talkative, do not like to go out, do not want to see people. When they meet people, they feel empty in their heads, not only do they have nothing to say, but some people also feel inferior and uncomfortable. When depressed, sleep is often a problem, some people lie in bed and toss and turn, and have difficulty sleeping. The mind is particularly chaotic, often involuntarily recall some of the previous events, and the memories are usually unhappy and unpleasant, either with who had a falling out, or who they were bullied.
And after falling asleep, it is easy to wake up. The most common sleep problem when depressed is early waking. Normally, you wake up at six or seven o’clock, but now you may wake up at three or four o’clock. When it’s time to get up and go to work during the day, I am particularly passive. I am not motivated and enthusiastic about the work I used to love, and I even want to give up my job.
When I work reluctantly, I find that my brain does not turn around, especially wooden. The memory has also become poor, so that the work efficiency is very low. At this time, depressed people are more likely to blame themselves and feel that the future is bleak and hopeless. In case of severe depression, the person will also “go narrow” and always want to live lightly.
Diagnosis: Let the doctor decide
It is not that a bad mood is depression. When people encounter some bad things, such as lost love, divorce, unemployment and other unlucky things, appearing bitterness, worry, depression, frustration, are usually normal emotional reactions. If the person is not coping well, he or she can be classified as having a general psychological problem or a serious psychological problem. Although there are some similar or overlapping parts to the depressive experience, the degree is usually milder and does not affect the range of mental activities as extensively as depression.
If the degree is more severe, but not yet at the level of depression, it is generally called depressive mood. Of course, some people will also experience depressive reactions, but such a percentage will usually be very small. From general psychological problems to depressive episodes, it is like a step-by-step process, belonging to different levels of severity. If it is not easy to pinpoint, you can ask a professional doctor to conduct the necessary examination and judgment.
Often people think of depression as not being able to think. The reason why they think so is that they equate psychological problems with mental illness. There are some psychological problems that are indeed caused by not being able to think. But some people treat depression as just a psychological problem, not a mental illness, thinking that depression is a mood swing caused by certain psychological factors. In fact, it is not. Depression can occur with or without precipitating factors.
An elderly depressed patient once said, “I have no burdens now, my children are working and filial, and I have a lot of retirement salary, so how can I be depressed? In fact, depression as a mental illness can be completely endogenous and has nothing to do with the external environment.
Assessment Psychological and medication treatment
After the onset of depression, a psychological assessment can be performed in a psychiatric professional institution to determine the severity of depression.
In case of mild depression, psychological treatment is possible, while active exercise is encouraged. Patients are guided by their doctors to make self-adjustments, such as exercising more, being exposed to more sunlight, and doing more things that make them happy. In particular, practicing our traditional fitness qigong, such as Ba Duan Jin and Six Characters, can be very effective in fighting depression and improving personality in the long term.
If, after assessment, moderate to severe depression is reached, medication should be preferred. Many new antidepressants are now fast-acting, with few side effects and reliable efficacy, and usually work within a few weeks. However, maintenance therapy is necessary, and premature medication reduction carries a high risk of relapse. Some patients have concerns about the medication and refuse to take it because they are worried about the side effects.
In fact, although medications may have some side effects, they are really negligible compared to the efficacy they bring. Persistent refusal of medication can leave patients in an emotional gray area for a long time, and their quality of life and well-being can be greatly diminished. More importantly, there is also the risk of worsening depression. If treatment is not systematic and adequate, after several recurrent episodes, depression treatment will not only require maintenance medication for a longer period of time, but the ending will also become drawn out.
In addition, for major depression, the effect of psychotherapy can be short-lived and limited. The effect of psychotherapy on depression requires conditions. For example, if medication is chosen first, psychotherapy is best when the condition is in partial or basic remission. Other periods of time are not impossible, but the efficacy is relatively superficial. The use of some conventional psychological support, psychological suggestion, will basically meet the needs of treatment. Of course, if the patient prefers and insists on a long course of psychoanalytic or cognitive-behavioral therapy, it can be considered when the depression is not severe.
Some patients attribute depression to environmental factors and insist on self-adjustment. In fact, if the depression is severe, self-adjustment is almost like “pulling the top over the river” because the strength of the ego is already very weak and it is difficult to save oneself.
Identify the physical symptoms of emotions
In addition to the postpartum period, menopause is also an eventful time for women’s emotions. In the later stages of menopause or after, due to endocrine changes, some women may also experience depression. Depression at this time is often accompanied by significant anxiety and physical discomfort. For example, pain is felt in the head, abdomen, back, etc. There was a patient who experienced cervical discomfort during menopause. After visiting many general departments without resolving the problem, she went to a psychiatric specialist, had an examination and found the presence of depression, and after taking antidepressants for a period of time, the pain was completely relieved and her mood improved significantly.
There are also some young women who blindly use diet pills in order to maintain their body shape, and after taking them for a period of time, what comes down is not only the weight, but also the state of mind. There have been artists who have become depressed and subsequently committed suicide because of taking diet pills. Some diet pills can directly or indirectly disrupt the chemicals in the brain related to emotions, which can trigger depression.
In addition, some physical diseases, such as diabetes, cerebral infarction, coronary heart disease, etc., combined with depression is not uncommon and should also be taken seriously.
It should be noted that when depression is present, many emotional symptoms may be ignored, while some somatic symptoms, such as anorexia, insomnia, and pain, are often presented to general hospitals as the main symptoms, which may miss the best time for consultation or be misdiagnosed. Therefore, it is important not to ignore one’s emotional experience and fully reflect one’s physical and mental discomfort to the doctor at the time of consultation.
Causes Neuroendocrine changes
Within the body, specifically in the brain, certain chemicals, such as pentothal, decrease in concentration in a certain part of the body, and at this time the person’s internal experience and external manifestation is depression. As to how this decrease occurs, the mechanism is not fully understood. It may be related to certain neuroendocrine changes in the brain, or it may be related to the seasonal climate, or it may be related to the expression of certain genes.
But in any case, it is just not possible to find a cause of depression that can be explained in the current life circumstances. Sometimes, it also seems that some factors can be found that are related to the occurrence of depression, but not enough to explain why it leads to depression. For example, this factor, when placed in many people, does not lead to depression; or in the past, for the person concerned, it did not lead to depression. However, here and now, it induces depression. At this point, the psychological factor is no longer the cause of depression, but the trigger. Its effect is equivalent to a lit fuse, or a pulled trigger. It just triggers depression.
Biological changes in the brain are closely related to depression, and some changes related to biological factors may increase the risk of depressive episodes, which is particularly evident in women. There was once a young mother who developed postpartum depression after giving birth, was often in a bad mood, and felt that she was incapable of bringing up her children, that living was a burden, and that there would be more difficulties and stress in the future.
She felt that she had no hope and no future in life, and was even more worried that her infant child would also encounter such pain. So after losing all hope, she jumped into the well with her child in her arms so that she would not have to suffer alone in this world after her death. But unfortunately, after jumping into the well, the child drowned, but she did not die, leaving a lifetime of pain and regret. Professionally, such an act is called extended suicide, and is the most serious consequence of depression.
Postpartum depression, despite the poor outcome in some cases, is also completely manageable with early detection and treatment. Na Ying and Ye Yixi both confessed that they had suffered from postpartum depression, but their bright laughter on screen tells us that postpartum depression is completely beatable.