Depression is a common mental illness. In the West, it is known as the “blue blues”. It is mainly characterized by depressed mood, reduced interest, pessimism, slow thinking, lack of initiative, self-blame, poor diet and sleep, fear of various diseases, general discomfort, and in severe cases, suicidal thoughts and behavior. The prevalence of depression in China is about 29%-35%, which is similar to the statistical results of developed countries. In contrast to the high prevalence rate, the current identification rate of depression in hospitals above the local and municipal level is very low. Less than 3% of the existing depressed patients receive relevant medication.
The common clinical classifications of depression are as follows.
1. Endogenous depression.
Experiencing a persistent low mood for no apparent reason, which can meet the diagnostic criteria for depression in severe cases, is a typical depressive symptom caused by a relative or absolute deficiency of the brain neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine.
2. Reactive depression.
Pathological emotional reactions caused by major mental stimuli and setbacks. For example, sudden natural or man-made disasters, loss of love and marriage, serious illness, career setbacks, etc., people with poor psychological endurance are prone to reactive depression.
3.Hidden depression.
Patients do not feel depressed consciously, but with various physical symptoms, such as palpitations, chest tightness, upper and middle abdominal discomfort, shortness of breath, sweating, wasting, insomnia, etc. As the main manifestation. This kind of patients go from one general hospital to another, but they are distressed because they cannot find out the exact cause.
4.Drug-induced secondary depression.
Drugs can induce emotional reactions. For example, some hypertensive patients, long-term use of compound preparations containing blood pressure such as compound antihypertensive tablets, etc., will experience persistent emotional euphoria and depression. In addition to antihypertensive drugs, drugs that can easily induce depression include antiarrhythmics, antipsychotics, antipyretics, contraceptives, hormones, etc.
5. Secondary depression caused by somatic diseases.
Somatic diseases can be used as stress factors and can also directly affect the metabolism of neurotransmitters in the brain and cause secondary depression. Such as depression due to brain hemorrhage and infarction, Parkinson’s disease and endocrine metabolic diseases and even heavy colds and high fever can trigger this type of depression.
6. Psychiatric disorders secondary to depressive symptoms.
Such as post-schizophrenia depression, or the effects of antipsychotic drugs, the patient appears to meet the diagnosis of depressive symptoms.
7, postpartum depression.
Intense changes in hormone levels after childbirth, emotions can become quite fragile and prone to depressive symptoms when there is an external source of emergency. For example, after the birth of a baby girl, she is discriminated against by her mother-in-law or husband, feels intense guilt about her baby, and has a severe hatred for herself. Common manifestations include crying, insomnia, inability to eat, and depressed mood.
8. Menopausal depression.
Menopause is also a special period of dramatic changes in hormone levels in the human body, and a period of dramatic physical and psychological changes. Under certain somatic or mental factors induced, emotional symptoms are likely to appear.
9. Geriatric depression.
Older people, due to the change of living environment, the increase of physical diseases, the estrangement of children, the loss of partners, the confusion of facing death directly and other factors affecting the patient’s mood, appear to be based on a depressed state of mind, with anxiety symptoms as the prominent manifestation, with more somatic discomfort as its disease characteristics, with a long course and poor prognosis.
10. Depression characterized by learning difficulties.
In schools, it is often possible to find some students who originally had better academic performance suddenly start to be anorexic, fearful of learning, truant or refuse to learn, and their performance drops across the board or suddenly. This phenomenon is partly due to depression, as the disease causes students to have learning difficulties, inattention and memory loss, causing concern among teachers and parents.
11. White-collar depression.
The work and life pressure faced by the white-collar class, the psychological conflict between reality and temptation, and the irregularity of life often cause disturbances in the internal environment of the body, resulting in depressed mood, inactivity, sulking, excessive thinking, insomnia, dreaminess, dizziness, forgetfulness, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, bloating, menstrual irregularities, menstrual abdominal pain and many other symptoms.