Depression/Anxiety
Depression is a common but serious mood disorder. It affects how you feel, think, and handle things throughout your day. This comes in many different forms with some being different from the others.
Anxiety is a persistent feeling of being anxious or dread that can interfere with you daily operations. It is not the same as worrying about something or experiencing anxiety due to stressful times.
Some Forms Of Depression Include:
Persistent Depressive Disorder – Someone diagnosed with this will experience episodes of harsh depression along with less severe symptoms here and there.
Postpartum Depression – Women experiencing this deal with full blown depression during pregnancy or after delivery. Feeling sadness, anxiety, and exhaustion, this makes it hard for the mother to accomplish things for themselves and their baby.
Psychotic Depression – Includes a form of psychosis & depression mixed with the hallucinations, delusions, or paranoia.
Seasonal Affective Disorder – Changes in mood that happen along with changes in seasons. For most, this usually begins around August and lasts until spring or summer depending on the person.
Bipolar Disorder – People with bipolar disorder don’t all go through instances of depression but a lot of them do. Bipolar 1 usually has to do with episodes of mania, with some chance of episodes of depression. Bipolar 2 includes episodes of hypomania & depression.
Symptoms
- Thoughts of suicide/death
- Reduced appetite & weight loss
- Increased appetite & weight gain
- Difficulty concentrating
- Fatigue
- Feeling of guilt
- Loss of satisfaction in things you use to love/enjoy
- Constant sad, anxious mood. Feeling empty.
Risks Of Developing Depression
- Most that deal with trauma or abuse in the past are more than likely to develop chronic depression
- If your family has a history of mental issues or conditions
- People with diabetes or chronic pain are more than likely depressed
- Substance use usually has depression to go alongside it
Treatment
Depression is very treatable & is proven to be effective in showing much improvement in those in treatment. The combination of anti-depressant drugs and psychotherapy delivered to a patient by a professional mental health specialist is proven to be effective & reduce the likeliness of any recurrences. Aside from these options, try to join a support group experiencing similar conditions or talk with family/friends to make them helpful in your efforts to better your mental health. Therapy is very helpful & can also bring about ideas to help boost your mood. A good way to distract yourself from your thoughts is to exercise or do some physical activity to help reduce your anxiety & depression.
In case of doubt, persistence of symptoms, treatment, or any other discomfort, please consult your medical provider.
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/facts-statistics-infographic