DEPRESSION PART 1
This series shall be looking at the most common psychiatric illness of our time, Depression. This illness is often so serious that a lot of people suffering from it have a lot of physical and psychiatric symptoms. This disease is also so important to talk about because it is the commonest cause of suicide worldwide. About 1 million people commit suicide every year so this disease is an epidemic. Apart from being the most common mental illness, depression is ranked as the fourth among all diseases by WHO.
In this part 1, i shall be explaining what depression is, the causes, the risk factors and the symptoms.
I will begin by asking us who we think can suffer from depression? is it the disease of only women, or the elderly? No, depression can affect men, women and adolescents and occasionally children. However it is commoner in women and those aged between 30 and 40 years followed by those aged between 50 and 60 years.
The next thing is to know what causes depression. Do we know how people become depressed? The answer is that the exact cause of depression is not known, however some experts believe that depression is caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. Though no one knows the exact cause, there are however some factors and conditions that make some people more liable to developing depression than others. These are known as the RISK FACTORS.
So what are these risk factors for depression?
▪ Loneliness
▪ Lack of social support
▪ Recent stressful life experiences like bereavement, rape, serious accidents,
redundancy etc
▪ Family history of depression
▪ Marital or relationship problems
▪ Financial strain
▪ Early childhood trauma or abuse
▪ Alcohol or drug abuse
▪ Unemployment or underemployment
▪ Health problems or chronic pain
▪ female gender
▪ past history of depression
▪ other mental health problems like dementia
What are the symptoms of depression?
I like to say at this point that feeling down from time to time is a normal part of life and is not classed as depression. This is just temporary blues. Similarly it is normal for one to be sad from time to time that is also not depression.
For someone to be depressed, emptiness and despair must take hold of the person and refuse to go away making it very difficult for them to function and enjoy like they once did.
Hobbies and friends don’t interest them like they used to; they are exhausted all the time; and just getting through the day can be overwhelming and tasking to them.
For one to be diagnosed with depression: there must be at least these 2 cardinal symptoms
* The person must have a low mood for most of the times for at least 2 weeks
* The person must loose interest in things he used to enjoy. This again must be for most of the times for at least 2 weeks.
These symptoms should have been present persistently for at least 2 weeks and must have caused clinically significant distress and impairment for one to be said to be clinically depressed. It is also important to mention that these above symptoms must not be due to physical or organic reasons.
In addition to the above 2 cardinal symptoms, depressed patients may experience some or all of the following symptoms:
* Feeling tired so easily
* Appetite problems usually poor appetite but sometimes over eating
* Loss of concentration
* Loss of libido
* Erectile dysfunction in men
* sleep problems usually disturbed sleep. The classical pattern is early morning wakefulness where the patient wakes up quite early in the morning after struggling to fall asleep and then staying awake till morning. However some depressed patients may also suffer from over sleeping (hypersomnia)
* feeling hopeless
* feeling helpless
* Some may be agitated while others may become so slow and sluggish
* Some are unable to control their negative thoughts, no matter how much they try
*Some are quite irritable, short-tempered or more aggressive than usual
* Some drink more alcohol than normal and often engage in reckless behaviour.
* Some believe that life is not worth living
* Having a lot of physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.
▪ * Having very strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt criticizing themselves for perceived faults and mistakes.
* Some feel so miserable and sad
*some feel as if even the smallest tasks are sometimes impossible.
▪ *Some don't want to see people or are scared to be left alone. Social activity may feel hard or impossible.
▪ *Some find it difficult to think clearly.
▪ *Some feel that they are a burden to others.
▪ *Some indulge in self harm
▪ * Some take their lives (Completed suicide)
▪ Some signs that can tell you that one is depressed:
* Looking sad
* Unkempt
* dishevelled
* Always blaming themselves
* feeling that they are the worst
* Always lacking confidence
* avoiding eye contacts
* Talks in low tone and frequency
* Slow movements
* drinking a lot of alcohol to feel better
* Not sleeping at night or sleeping a lot
* Always tired
* isolating themselves
Stay tuned for Part 2, coming your way shortly
Thanks
