You can be depressed about a life event and not have the mental disorder termed Depression. Depression symptoms are feeling hopeless, unhappy, sad, despondent, dejected and basically down in the dumps. Millions of people worldwide and in the United States suffer from depression. Depression can be treated. It is best to find treatment at the onset of your symptoms so your suffering doesn’t linger.
There are different types of depression. Clinical or major depression is common and serious. In addition to feeling despondent, people with clinical depression can have work-related and relationship difficulties and or problems at school and in social settings. Symptoms must be present for at least two weeks for a clinical depression diagnosis. Dysthymia or persistent depressive disorder lasts more than two years. It is accompanied by severe and less severe bouts of depression. Other forms of depression are more circumstantial. You may have heard of postpartum depression—when a woman becomes depressed after she has her baby. Then there is seasonal affective disorder. Depression comes on during winter months when the days are shorter and there’s less sun. This particularly affects people in northern or mountainous climates.
Depression is treated by psychotherapy, medication, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an option some people choose when other therapies don’t work. Brain stimulation such as vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are relatively new forms of treatment.
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, puts you in a relationship with a professional. The first part to this therapy is gaining trust. Without trust it is difficult to be vulnerable and look into what might be causing you to feel depressed.
Alongside of psychotherapy, medication is widely used to help alleviate symptoms of depression. Nurse practitioners, medical doctors and psychiatrists prescribe medications. Everyone does not react the same to medication. Your professional will take care to put you on the correct medication for your particular situation. Sometimes you have to go through a trial and error period to get the right medication. The medication’s full effect may take a couple of weeks to settle into your system, though some may begin to feel better sooner.
Depression is often the result of traumatic life events that has not been fully processed. In EMDR therapy these traumatic events are reprocessed and result in significant improvements to your mental health. In addition to formal treatment for depression, exercise, eating healthy foods, singing and listening to upbeat music can aid in your recovery from depression.
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