EDITOR’S NOTE — See related story today, “Peninsula Behavioral Health medical director: Depression among top cause of workplace absences” — https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150908/NEWS/309089986
UNLIKE ORDINARY TIMES of feeling blue, which usually last a couple of days, episodes of major depression, sometimes called clinical depression, can linger for weeks — or much longer.
Symptoms include persistent sadness, apathy, inattention, fatigue, despair and proneness to accidents or errors.
Happiness becomes a rare or wholly absent emotion.
Other signs:
■ Persistent anxious or “empty” feelings.
■ Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness.
■ Irritability, restlessness.
■ Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex.
■ Difficulty concentrating, remembering details and making decisions.
■ Insomnia, early morning wakefulness or excessive sleeping.
■ Overeating or appetite loss.
■ Aches or pains, headaches, cramps or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment.
■ Thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts.
The average age of onset is 32 years, although depression has been diagnosed in children as young as 3 years old, and more than 3 percent of teenagers experience seriously debilitating depressive disorders.
In elders, it can lead people to stop caring for themselves, with life-threatening consequences.
Nearly 7 percent of adults in the U.S. experience a depressive disorder, with women 70 percent likelier to exhibit it than men, although men, especially elders, show a higher risk of suicide.
Variants include postpartum depression among new mothers and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), with onset during winter months, when there is less natural light. Depression also may follow traumatic events, including loss of loved ones.
Cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective in reframing negative thought patterns. A number of prescription medications can restore chemical imbalances in the brain.
Dr. Josh Jones, medical director of Peninsula Behavioral Health, said so-called talk therapy helps transfer thoughts from the side of the brain that feels emotions to the analytical side that can deal with them.
Electroconvulsive therapy, far shorter and subtler than the old so-called “shock therapy,” also may relieve depression when other therapies are ineffective, he said.
And people with depression can fight the disability — by making themselves moving targets.
“You have to push yourself,” he said.
“You’re not going to want to get up and exercise. You’re going to have to push yourself.
“You have to, have to, have to.”
Resources describing depression and its treatments abound online. One is the National Institutes of Mental Health at http://tinyurl.com/depression-pdn.
— Source: National Institutes of Mental Health, HelpGuide.org
