Who Gets Depression?
Source: American Academy of Family Physicians
Depression is an illness that involves feelings of sadness lasting for two weeks or longer, often accompanied by a loss of interest in life, hopelessness, and decreased energy.
Among those prone to depression are people:
♦ With close relatives who have had depression.
♦ Who have had depression before
♦ With low self-esteem or self-loathing
♦ With chronic medical disorders, including thyroid disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure
♦ Who take certain medications, including oral contraceptives, steroids, and some medications for high blood pressure.
Symptoms of depression:
♦ No interest or pleasure in things you used to enjoy
♦ Feeling sad or empty
♦ Crying easily or crying for no reason at all
♦ Feeling slowed down or feeling restless and unable to sit still.
♦ Feeling worthless or guilty
♦ Change in appetite, leading to weight gain or loss
♦ Thinking about death or suicide
♦ Trouble thinking, recalling things or focusing on what you’re doing
♦ Trouble making everyday decisions
♦ Problems sleeping, especially in the early morning, or wanting to sleep all of the time or hide under the covers
♦ Feeling tired all of the time
♦ Feeling numb emotionally, perhaps even to the point of not being able to cry.
Reasons to get help for depression:
♦ Early treatment helps keep the depression from getting worse or lasting a long time.
♦ Thoughts of suicide are common and the risk of suicide is higher if you don’t get treated and your depression comes back. When depression is successfully treated, the thoughts of suicide will go away.
♦ Treatment can help you return to your normal self, enjoying life.
♦ Treatment can help prevent depression from coming back.
Getting through depression:
♦ Pace yourself. Don’t expect to do everything you normally can. Set a realistic schedule.
♦ Don’t believe all of your negative thinking, such as blaming yourself, feeling hopeless or expecting to fail. This thinking is part of depression. These thoughts will go away as your depression lifts.
♦ If you can, get involved in activities that make you feel good or make you feel like you’ve achieved something.
♦ Put off doing things that you find too difficult at the moment. Avoid making big life decisions during a depression.
♦ If you must make a big decision, ask someone you trust to help you.
♦ Avoid drugs and alcohol. Both make depression worse. Both can cause dangerous side effects or get in the way of letting your antidepressants work.
♦ Try no to get discouraged. It’ll take time for your depression to lift fully. But treatment works for almost everyone.
♦ Exercise. It not only gives you a distraction but also seems to cause a chemical reaction in the body that may make your mood better.
