While the American Psychological Association doesn't define clear stages of depression, there does seem to be a pattern among the way that depression progresses among people. Here are the basic issues that may lead to depression in many people:
Feeling frustrated or overwhelmed – When life begins to become burdensome, you can begin to have troubles dealing with the emotions that come along with this anxiety
Sense of sadness at the way things are – Feeling like everything is out of control, you begin to feel sad and despondent.
Loss of interest in things you enjoy – You begin to isolate yourself from others and from the things you love to do.
Changes in eating and sleeping – You might begin to change the way you eat and the way you sleep as a way to cope with the burdens of your feelings.
Feelings of hopelessness – As you continue to feel bad, you might begin to see things as hopeless and beyond your control. You begin to not care about anything. You might stop bathing or handling even mundane tasks.
Feelings of death and suicide – Those who feel like they are completely alone and have no one to turn to will often begin to have thoughts of death and finally 'ending' it all.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
What is Depression?
For years I have suffered from depression, at different levels, some of them being major episodes and some more on a dysthymic (low-grade chronic) level.
What is depression?
There is a tendency to use the word depression to describe periods or episodes of sadness that each of us experience from time to time. And for many of us, during these periods it is not always easy to discern where normal sorrow ends and clinical depression begins. Yet, anyone who has ever experienced an episode of major depression knows - at least after the depression has lifted - that what they feel is more than just ongoing or persistent sadness.
Clinical depression is an illness characterized by a cluster of feelings, thoughts and behaviors that are remarkably distinct from a person's normal range of feelings and functioning. Caused by a complex interaction of biologic, psychological and social factors, a major depressive disorder can make a person extremely sensitive to life circumstances, the least of which can throw him/her into total loss of hope.
During a major depression, someone can become surrounded by feelings of sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, and emptiness, and these feelings can distort every thought and experience, making life seem hopeless and unworthy. Feelings of being deeply and continually deprived, unworthy, insignificant, and guilt-ridden build on feelings of sadness. At the same time, a person may feel chronically irritable, often exploding into anger and frustration.
While a major depression may be triggered by some life event or circumstance, a person's mood reaction may seem greatly exaggerated. However, depression has less to do with life's events than with an individual's existing vulnerability to the condition.
In some cases, someone may experience a major depression as a single episode, but in most cases, clinical depression tends to recur periodically, reactively or cyclically. A major depressive episode could possibly last up to 2 or more years.
When someone experiences milder depressive episodes, this is called dysthymia. For someone suffering from dysthymia, certain life circumstances, such as loss of a job, divorce, or relocating to a new environment, may provoke a much deeper depression.
For some individuals, there is a seasonal component to their depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This is a form of reactive depression that is more prevalent in northern parts of the country where climatic extreme changes are greater. SAD usually affects people in the fall or winter and is characterized by fatigue, carbohydrate cravings, overeating, lack of energy or motivation to do activities normally enjoyed, and oversleeping. While the exact etiology or cause of SAD is not certain, it is possible that it may be related to the way in which the light responsive pineal gland in the brain functions.
Check back for information on what to do if you have depression, when to seek treatment, types of treatment, and prognosis.
What is depression?
There is a tendency to use the word depression to describe periods or episodes of sadness that each of us experience from time to time. And for many of us, during these periods it is not always easy to discern where normal sorrow ends and clinical depression begins. Yet, anyone who has ever experienced an episode of major depression knows - at least after the depression has lifted - that what they feel is more than just ongoing or persistent sadness.
Clinical depression is an illness characterized by a cluster of feelings, thoughts and behaviors that are remarkably distinct from a person's normal range of feelings and functioning. Caused by a complex interaction of biologic, psychological and social factors, a major depressive disorder can make a person extremely sensitive to life circumstances, the least of which can throw him/her into total loss of hope.
During a major depression, someone can become surrounded by feelings of sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, and emptiness, and these feelings can distort every thought and experience, making life seem hopeless and unworthy. Feelings of being deeply and continually deprived, unworthy, insignificant, and guilt-ridden build on feelings of sadness. At the same time, a person may feel chronically irritable, often exploding into anger and frustration.
While a major depression may be triggered by some life event or circumstance, a person's mood reaction may seem greatly exaggerated. However, depression has less to do with life's events than with an individual's existing vulnerability to the condition.
In some cases, someone may experience a major depression as a single episode, but in most cases, clinical depression tends to recur periodically, reactively or cyclically. A major depressive episode could possibly last up to 2 or more years.
When someone experiences milder depressive episodes, this is called dysthymia. For someone suffering from dysthymia, certain life circumstances, such as loss of a job, divorce, or relocating to a new environment, may provoke a much deeper depression.
For some individuals, there is a seasonal component to their depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This is a form of reactive depression that is more prevalent in northern parts of the country where climatic extreme changes are greater. SAD usually affects people in the fall or winter and is characterized by fatigue, carbohydrate cravings, overeating, lack of energy or motivation to do activities normally enjoyed, and oversleeping. While the exact etiology or cause of SAD is not certain, it is possible that it may be related to the way in which the light responsive pineal gland in the brain functions.
Check back for information on what to do if you have depression, when to seek treatment, types of treatment, and prognosis.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Depression E-books
I have found a couple of very interesting e-books that discuss depression and ways to get relief.
This first e-book is actually written by a retired clinical counselor and discusses ways to deal with depression.
Stop Your Depression Now
This e-book discusses ways to get rid of anxiety, stress and depression via natural means. A lot of people are against using antidepressants or other medications for their disorders and would prefer to try natural methods to get relief.
Conquer Stress, Depression and Anxiety Naturally in Just 90 Days
This first e-book is actually written by a retired clinical counselor and discusses ways to deal with depression.
Stop Your Depression Now
This e-book discusses ways to get rid of anxiety, stress and depression via natural means. A lot of people are against using antidepressants or other medications for their disorders and would prefer to try natural methods to get relief.
Conquer Stress, Depression and Anxiety Naturally in Just 90 Days
Friday, March 7, 2008
Getting help for depression
If you are in a major bout of depression, you may feel like you are beyond help. However, depression CAN be treated and managed. If your state of gloom/sadness persists more than two weeks, you find that you cannot get out of bed, you are increasingly isolated from family and friends, and you have lost any sense of enjoyment or interest in your usual activities, call your doctor right away. Also, if you find yourself ruminating about death and the meaningless of life and you are considering suicide, SEEK HELP IMMEDIATELY. There is help available and things will and do get better.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Winter Blues
Every year I struggle with depression during the winter months. This year has been better but still difficult at times. Things that have helped me deal with things easier have been exercise (at least 20 - 40 minutes per day, even just walking helps), cutting back on sugary foods or carbohydrates, eating more high-protein foods, like low-fat cheese, fat-free, sugar-free yogurt, and also lots of fruits and veges. I do recommended Progresso soups that have 0 points on the Weight Watchers plan as they are very filling and have very few calories. I am down about 40 pounds so far and just these changes have tremendously helped my mood. The main thing is just keeping active. If I start feeling down, I make myself get on the treadmill, even 15 minutes helps bring up my mood.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Foods that Fight Winter Depression
As someone suffering from depression, particularly during the winter months, I have been looking at foods in my diet that could possibly trigger depression or make it worse, and foods that may help improve it. I found this very interesting article on foods that fight winter depression at:
http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/foods-that-fight-winter-depression
Foods That Fight Winter Depression
When long nights bring on a long face, this can mean seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Here are some tips to help fight off the winter blues.
The winter blues can leave you not only feeling down in the dumps, but they can also send you rummaging for sweets. Don't get caught up in this vicious cycle.
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a form of depression that affects 25 million Americans, mostly women. Much research has been done on this mysterious disorder.
In somewhat of a simplification, the lack of light in wintertime can result in lower levels of serotonin, the mood-enhancing chemical that regulates hunger and the feeling of well-being.
Serotonin production increases with light, meaning that gray gloom creeping in the window is not kicking the production of feel-good chemicals into action.
Some symptoms include depression, marathon napping, low self-esteem, obsessiveness over little things, irritability, shyness, and panic attacks. People with seasonal affective disorder may also sleep poorly (although for many hours), partly because they don't have enough serotonin to convert to the sleep substance melatonin.
Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and people generally recover completely around April or May - once the days become longer.
Treatment includes light therapy and/or medications. However, there are things you can do yourself that can help boost serotonin levels.
3 Ways to Boot up Your Serotonin
Julia Ross, MA, is director of the Recovery Systems Clinic in San Francisco and author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure. She tells WebMD there are three ways to jump-start your serotonin:
Subject yourself to bright indoor light. This is the touchstone of seasonal affective disorder treatment. Many pricey lights are available. Ross says a 300 watt bulb within three feet for 20 minutes three times a day can help, although the boost in serotonin may be temporary.
Exercise. This is very hard to do when caught up in the seasonal affective disorder cycle. But if you can force yourself to start, 15 to 20 minutes of dancing to the radio or fast walking can reduce a sweet tooth and improve mood.
Eat wisely. This means, pushing away the leftover cake and eating sensible carbs to stimulate serotonin. Sweets and simple carbs, like white rice and white bread, quickly raise blood sugar, flood you with insulin, and then drop you in a hole.
Eating wisely also means watching the caffeine, which suppresses serotonin. "If you must drink coffee, save it for after the meal," Ross says.
More Nutritional Tips for Raising Mood in Winter
Ross also recommends a nutritional supplement called 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), which raises serotonin levels. This is not for everybody -- read the label carefully. For instance, people with heart problems should not take it. Also remember that supplements such as this one are not as closely regulated by the government and may contain questionable substances. Ross says 5HTP should only be taken for a short period, to bump up serotonin levels, which will then stay elevated. "You don't take it forever," she says.
Protein, she says, should be eaten three times a day. Another good rule is to eat four cups of brightly colored veggies a day. "This is enough to fill a (pardon the expression) 1 quart ice cream container." Vegetables are carbs, but the kind that feed into your system slowly.
Samantha Heller, MS, RD, senior clinical nutritionist at the NYU Medical Center, tells WebMD it's best to substitute fruit for cookies and chocolate ice cream. In general, the good carbs of veggies, fruit, and beans help energy levels.
"If weight gain in the winter months is your concern," Heller says, "you should get a healthy eating plan from a registered dietitian."
Timing Is Also Everything
It's fashionable to urge people to eat half a dozen small meals a day, but this is an individual preference, Heller says.
"If you eat lunch at one o'clock and know you won't have dinner until eight o'clock, you may need a snack. If you eat junk food for lunch, by four o'clock you will be foraging for chocolate."
She urges people to try eliminating all white, starchy foods for two weeks -- bread, rice, potatoes. "You will be amazed at how good you feel," she says. "But you need to stick to it to see a difference."
Even as a nutritionist, she admits to having experienced the opposite. "I was going to visit my mother and bought a muffin for her and one for me," she says. "After I ate it, I felt like I had been drugged."
That's another thing about seasonal affective disorder -- the lows are lower. If you are already serotonin-challenged, what you eat will have a bigger impact than in summer.
Foods to Have on Hand
If you suffer from seasonal affective disorder, you may be too shot to run to the store. This can work for you if you keep fairly healthful commodities in the pantry. Some suggestions:
Popcorn
Oatmeal (original, not desserty)
Nuts
Egg whites for omelets
Peanut butter
Prewashed veggies
Fruit
Whole grain crackers and bread
Deli turkey
Cottage cheese
Forget the candlelight. In winter, dinner calls for 300 watts, hold the shade!
http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/foods-that-fight-winter-depression
Foods That Fight Winter Depression
When long nights bring on a long face, this can mean seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Here are some tips to help fight off the winter blues.
The winter blues can leave you not only feeling down in the dumps, but they can also send you rummaging for sweets. Don't get caught up in this vicious cycle.
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a form of depression that affects 25 million Americans, mostly women. Much research has been done on this mysterious disorder.
In somewhat of a simplification, the lack of light in wintertime can result in lower levels of serotonin, the mood-enhancing chemical that regulates hunger and the feeling of well-being.
Serotonin production increases with light, meaning that gray gloom creeping in the window is not kicking the production of feel-good chemicals into action.
Some symptoms include depression, marathon napping, low self-esteem, obsessiveness over little things, irritability, shyness, and panic attacks. People with seasonal affective disorder may also sleep poorly (although for many hours), partly because they don't have enough serotonin to convert to the sleep substance melatonin.
Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and people generally recover completely around April or May - once the days become longer.
Treatment includes light therapy and/or medications. However, there are things you can do yourself that can help boost serotonin levels.
3 Ways to Boot up Your Serotonin
Julia Ross, MA, is director of the Recovery Systems Clinic in San Francisco and author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure. She tells WebMD there are three ways to jump-start your serotonin:
Subject yourself to bright indoor light. This is the touchstone of seasonal affective disorder treatment. Many pricey lights are available. Ross says a 300 watt bulb within three feet for 20 minutes three times a day can help, although the boost in serotonin may be temporary.
Exercise. This is very hard to do when caught up in the seasonal affective disorder cycle. But if you can force yourself to start, 15 to 20 minutes of dancing to the radio or fast walking can reduce a sweet tooth and improve mood.
Eat wisely. This means, pushing away the leftover cake and eating sensible carbs to stimulate serotonin. Sweets and simple carbs, like white rice and white bread, quickly raise blood sugar, flood you with insulin, and then drop you in a hole.
Eating wisely also means watching the caffeine, which suppresses serotonin. "If you must drink coffee, save it for after the meal," Ross says.
More Nutritional Tips for Raising Mood in Winter
Ross also recommends a nutritional supplement called 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), which raises serotonin levels. This is not for everybody -- read the label carefully. For instance, people with heart problems should not take it. Also remember that supplements such as this one are not as closely regulated by the government and may contain questionable substances. Ross says 5HTP should only be taken for a short period, to bump up serotonin levels, which will then stay elevated. "You don't take it forever," she says.
Protein, she says, should be eaten three times a day. Another good rule is to eat four cups of brightly colored veggies a day. "This is enough to fill a (pardon the expression) 1 quart ice cream container." Vegetables are carbs, but the kind that feed into your system slowly.
Samantha Heller, MS, RD, senior clinical nutritionist at the NYU Medical Center, tells WebMD it's best to substitute fruit for cookies and chocolate ice cream. In general, the good carbs of veggies, fruit, and beans help energy levels.
"If weight gain in the winter months is your concern," Heller says, "you should get a healthy eating plan from a registered dietitian."
Timing Is Also Everything
It's fashionable to urge people to eat half a dozen small meals a day, but this is an individual preference, Heller says.
"If you eat lunch at one o'clock and know you won't have dinner until eight o'clock, you may need a snack. If you eat junk food for lunch, by four o'clock you will be foraging for chocolate."
She urges people to try eliminating all white, starchy foods for two weeks -- bread, rice, potatoes. "You will be amazed at how good you feel," she says. "But you need to stick to it to see a difference."
Even as a nutritionist, she admits to having experienced the opposite. "I was going to visit my mother and bought a muffin for her and one for me," she says. "After I ate it, I felt like I had been drugged."
That's another thing about seasonal affective disorder -- the lows are lower. If you are already serotonin-challenged, what you eat will have a bigger impact than in summer.
Foods to Have on Hand
If you suffer from seasonal affective disorder, you may be too shot to run to the store. This can work for you if you keep fairly healthful commodities in the pantry. Some suggestions:
Popcorn
Oatmeal (original, not desserty)
Nuts
Egg whites for omelets
Peanut butter
Prewashed veggies
Fruit
Whole grain crackers and bread
Deli turkey
Cottage cheese
Forget the candlelight. In winter, dinner calls for 300 watts, hold the shade!
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