Depression: Difference between revisions

{{Useful Notes}}

You've seen those common TV commercials about depression. "Are you less interested in things you used to enjoy? Maybe you're depressed. Depression hurts." Etcetera.

 

 

Antidepressants can help those who are clinically depressed, of course, although counseling tends to be very helpful as well. For minor to moderate depression, counselling is usually at least as effective as medication.

* '''Changes in appetite and the subsequent weight gain/loss.''' (Little-known/overlooked.) As stated before, depression involves large-scale physiological changes, and subsequently affects the person's appetite. On the other hand, this can be hard to detect as those with decreased appetite will either remind or force themselves to eat normally, and those with increased appetite may hide the bulk of their overeating. Both sides may play it off as insignificant, or even joke about it to keep people from worrying.

 

 

That said, there are some very common misunderstandings of depression and related conditions, some of which are propagated by Hollywood, others of which are propagated by sometimes well-meaning people, the pharmaceutical industry, and many other sources in the mainstream.

 

== Some reasons why this is ==

** Depression sufferers may feel incredibly bad but try to do things to make themselves feel temporarily better or to meet the expectations of others in their lives as well - this is actually often a cause of co-morbid addictions, in that sometimes, substance use will temporarily lift the depression enough to make being [[The Alcoholic]], for example, at first seem a welcome relief.

** In a similar vein, there are types of depression that are dependent on [[Trigger/Useful Notes|triggers]]. These are generally associated with PTSD, complex PTSD, and complicated grief (though sometimes a trigger can switch a BPII or cyclothymia sufferer to a depressive cycle). Sufferers of these types of depression are often very likely to be dismissed, mocked, or considered to be lying because they often seem like mentally healthy people unless they are in a situation where the trigger is unavoidable. This may prove a major problem for those whose triggers involve things in traditional workplace or family situations - they can be considered "lazy" for not working certain types of jobs or [[Childfree Is Not Allowed|inferior for not wanting a traditional family situation]], and the scorn and disgust this earns destroys self-worth and can make the depression spread from the triggers to a far more generalized depressive condition.

** For ''many'' depression sufferers, the depressions can go away (generally when being treated and/or not under stress) and come back (when treatment is ended or fails, or when a painful/stressful life event happens). Depression is generally a "relapsing-remitting" condition.

*** This can be a double problem for some FTM [[Transgender]] people - being in the wrong body alone is depressing, and the hormonal fluctuations that serve both to cause chemical imbalances themselves and as a reminder of what is causing them. This can sometimes be almost a mental form of [[And I Must Scream]] - for those who've never experienced it, imagine being at the mercy of mood swings and cycles that can be uncontrollable and change on a biweekly to monthly basis... and which are predictable but unstoppable.

 

** Sufferers of various ''personality disorders'' can also suffer from depression, both as a co-morbid chemical imbalance, from how the disorder has caused them to be treated in life, or from the consequences of their behavior or their interpretations of themselves or others. Borderline, narcissistic, and histrionic can often be co-morbid to depression.

** ''PTSD, complex PTSD, and complicated grief'' are often causes of depression and depression is often co-morbid to them. They are ''mental injuries'' as opposed to mental illnesses, in that they do not, themselves, arise from brain chemistry alone but from horrifically traumatizing life events (abuse, combat, disaster, violent assault, rape, the sudden loss of loved ones), but the pain and helplessness can easily begin a depression that takes on biochemical characteristics as it continues.

 

* "Depression is always the direct result of a chemical imbalance of serotonin in the brain." Again, this is true in ''some'' cases of depression, but it is also a commercial oversimplification of what can be a very complicated mental condition, a symptom of a physical condition where the imbalance is of something else entirely, or even the result of abuse. This is why anyone suffering from any form of depression needs a thorough physical and mental examination rather than a prescription of whatever antidepressant is advertising the most - especially because some of the physical causes can be ''fatal'' if left untreated in the pursuit of "it's all in your head."

** ''Insomnia'' can lead to depression and anxiety, as well as be a symptom of it.

** ''Hypothyroid'' almost always causes depression-like symptoms, and ''hyperthyroid'' can cause depression and/or symptoms similar to bipolar. Both can be fatal if unrecognized and untreated both from the depressive symptoms possibly leading to suicide, and to an unrousable coma in hypothyroid patients or thyroid storm and a heart attack in hyperthyroid.

== Adaptations and treatments aside from/along with traditional medication ==

** ''Talk therapy'' is the biggest one and most important. In fact, some studies have shown talk therapy (especially of the cognitive-behavioral model, but any will do) to be as if not more effective than medication in prolonged remission of depression. If you are moderately to severely depressed, you need to be doing talk therapy along with your medication with an understanding counselor with whom you have a good rapport. If you are mildly to moderately depressed, doing talk therapy alone without medication may be most advisable because it has no side effects and will not, generally, make matters worse before they get better.

 

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[[Category:Depression]]