Depression is not the same as mental illness
Depression is often characterized by symptoms such as insomnia, fantasy, and even suicidal behavior. From the patients who visit the clinic, there are many people who think they have a very rare disease, and it is difficult to talk about it because it is not far from mental illness.
Lin Chungchao said, in fact, depression is very common, with the increasing pressure of competition in society, the incidence of depression is also increasing year by year. According to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 340 million people worldwide are suffering from the disease. Although depression is often treated in psychiatric or psychiatry clinics, there is no need to label depression as “mental illness” because depression is mainly a mood disorder, which is different from mental illness. Some scholars have compared depression to a cold of emotion.
Depression is also a disease with a high recurrence rate and a high disability rate. Like Lu, depression can significantly affect an individual’s mental and physical health, social interactions, occupational ability, and physical activity. Patients with depressive disorders have lower ratings of their general health and severe limitations in somatic functioning compared to those without depressive disorders. Psychosocial impairments associated with depressive disorders include inability to go to work, reduced work capacity, marital discord, and problems with parent-child relationships. Most importantly, patients with depressive disorders are at an increasing risk of suicide, self-injury, and even killing their loved ones.
Related surveys show that 2/3 of depressed patients have had suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and 15%-25% of depressed patients eventually succeed in suicide. According to the World Health Organization, depression will become the second largest source of disease burden after coronary heart disease by 2020.
Psychiatrist: Depression can be treated
Many people will think that depression is an incurable disease and that depression is the end of life. In fact, depression can be treated. The treatment efficiency of antidepressants can reach about 60% to 80%. If combined with appropriate psychological treatment, the efficiency can be higher and the prognosis is better.
Lin Yongchao said that the Fuzhou Medical Psychological Consultation Center has set up a special clinic for depression and has accepted many patients in recent years. From the treatment experience, we can see that many patients are brave enough to face depression and after receiving regular treatment, they can eventually return to society, return to work and continue to create brilliance. It can be said that giving timely and appropriate treatment is very important to improve the clinical cure rate. However, the current diagnosis and treatment of depression is not optimistic, and the overall recognition rate of depressive disorders is low, especially in general hospitals. Moreover, depressed patients often have more somatic symptoms, such as: headache, neck pain, low back pain, joint pain in limbs, muscle tension, nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, constipation, burning sensation in the stomach, indigestion, flatulence, blurred vision, etc. In combination with the lack of awareness of depression, people do not know where to go for consultation even if they suspect they have depression. Or they are afraid to go to a psychologist or psychiatrist for fear of losing face. Patients often then visit general hospitals repeatedly for these symptoms and other reasons, undergoing multiple physical examinations and treatments, which not only delays diagnosis and treatment, but also wastes medical resources. Due to the lack of awareness of depression, most depressive symptoms do not attract the attention of patients, their families and physicians, and most depressive disorders associated with physical illness are ignored, while the rate of treatment and intervention for suicide, self-injury and drug and alcohol dependence caused by depressive disorders is even lower.
There are four major factors in the development of depression
Modern science is developing rapidly and we know more and more about depression, but unfortunately, we do not yet have a complete and clear understanding of the pathogenesis of depression, except to say that it is related to many factors. In brief, the main factors involved are: biochemical, genetic, psychological and social factors related. Psychiatrists and psychologists generally agree that depression is the result of a possible combination of etiological factors.
In general, the mechanism of action of most antidepressants is well supported by the biochemical theory, so clinicians generally accept the biochemical theory. And it is now scientifically proven that with rational medication, it allows patients to maintain long-term remission of their symptoms and return to a fully normal life. So patients need more than their own willpower to overcome depression, they also need the help of a qualified psychologist.
Generally speaking, the onset of depressive disorders has certain age characteristics. Studies have found that adolescence, perimenopause and old age are the three relatively concentrated age groups for the onset of depression, but it is not uncommon for patients to occur in other age groups. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to the above age groups.
In general, depression is a common disease that can be treated and recovered from, and suicide prevention is the top priority in the treatment. Psychologists also call on the whole society to start paying attention to depression, accepting and understanding depressed patients, encouraging them to bravely accept formal treatment and providing them with better recovery channels.
Depression treatment requires medication with psychological counseling
Antidepressants can help depressed patients well, but psychotherapy can also play an important role in the treatment of depression, such as: alleviating and relieving depressive symptoms of psychosocial stressors; improving the compliance of patients receiving antidepressant treatment to take medication; correcting various adverse psychosocial consequences secondary to depressive disorders, such as marital discord, low self-esteem and despair, withdrawal and avoidance; maximizing patients’ To achieve maximum rehabilitation of psychosocial and occupational functions; to prevent the relapse of depressive disorders in collaboration with antidepressant maintenance treatment.
For psychotherapy many patients and families ask: when to start? Not all patients start to cooperate with psychotherapy as soon as they are seen. Generally speaking: for patients with more severe disease, after one phase of medication, patients’ mood will be elevated and relatively stable after improvement. Under the premise of continuing to adhere to medication, psychotherapy should intervene in a timely manner. For patients with mild to moderate depressive disorder, psychotherapy can uncover the root cause of the patient’s depression problem at a deep level, especially for mild to moderate depression caused by obvious psychological factors, social environment or unexpected events. Patients are generally better able to cooperate with psychological talk and perform some psychotherapy tasks at this time, so psychotherapy is often more effective.
For patients with suicidal ideation or behavior, especially those with psychosocial factors (with clear triggers), antidepressant medication along with urgent psychological intervention and support is very important. If you really can’t tell whether or when you should start psychotherapy, you can consult a psychologist.
There are many methods of psychotherapy, and you may wonder how psychotherapy is actually implemented? Simply put: During psychotherapy, the psychotherapist will encourage you to identify and explore your thoughts and feelings and work with you to find new ways to deal with your problems. It is important to remember that psychotherapy is not just for the psychotherapist; psychotherapy requires the active participation of the patient, including the family.
Depression self-assessment questions.
Due to the high pressure of work and life, it is easy to cause psychological burden and symptoms such as insomnia, lack of appetite and wailing if you encounter things like bad feelings. Director Lin Chungchao said readers can self-test whether they are suffering from depression by some simple methods.
1.Feeling pessimistic or depressed most of the time
2.Loss of interest in most activities or sex life
3.Change in weight or appetite
4.Fidgeting, impatience or irritability
5.Easy to feel tired
6.Guilt, feelings of worthlessness or helplessness
7.Difficulty in memory or concentration, indecisiveness in doing things
8.Recurring thoughts of death or suicide, feeling that it is better to live than to die.
If the above symptoms occur for more than 2 weeks, you should seek professional psychiatrist for further evaluation and diagnosis.