What is depression?

Depression is a typical case of depressive disorder. Depression is a mental disorder with high prevalence and high clinical cure rate. However, due to the lack of awareness of the disease among ordinary people, fewer patients insist on receiving regular treatment, so there are also cases of low treatment rate and high recurrence rate. It is characterized by significant and persistent depression. Some patients have self-injury and suicide behaviors, which may be accompanied by psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations.

What are the types of depression

1. Endogenous depression

Continuous depression for no reason, this is a typical depressive symptom caused by the relative or absolute deficiency of the brain neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine.

2. Reactive depression

Pathological emotional response to major mental stimulation and setbacks. For example, people with poor psychological endurance are prone to reactive depression when they encounter sudden natural disasters, broken love and marriage, serious illness, and career setbacks.

3. Latent depression

The patient does not consciously feel depressed, but with various physical discomfort symptoms, such as palpitations, chest tightness, upper abdominal discomfort, shortness of breath, sweating, weight loss, insomnia, etc. as the main manifestations. These types of patients are transferred to different general hospitals, because the exact cause of the disease is not known.

4. Drug-induced secondary depression

Drugs can induce emotional responses. If some high blood pressure patients are taking the pills for a long time, they will experience persistent emotional euphoria and depression. In addition to antihypertensive drugs, drugs that can easily induce depression include antiarrhythmic drugs, antipsychotic drugs, antipyretic analgesics, contraceptives, etc.

5. Secondary depression caused by physical illness

Physical illness can act as a stress factor, or it can directly affect the metabolism of neurotransmitters in the brain and cause depression. For example, depression caused by cerebral hemorrhage and infarction, Parkinson's disease, endocrine and metabolic diseases, and even severe cold and high fever can all cause this type of depression.

6. Postpartum depression

With the drastic changes in hormone levels after childbirth, emotions will become quite fragile, and depression symptoms will easily appear when external emergency sources appear. For example: after giving birth to a baby girl, being discriminated against by her mother-in-law or husband, she feels strong guilt towards her baby and hates herself severely. Common manifestations are crying, insomnia, inability to eat, and depression.

7. Menopausal depression

Menopause is also a special period of dramatic changes in human hormone levels, as well as a period of dramatic physical and psychological changes. Emotional symptoms are prone to appear under certain physical or mental factors.

8. Depression in the elderly

The elderly are affected by factors such as changes in the living environment, increase in physical diseases, estrangement of children, loss of partner, and confusion in the face of death. Prominent manifestations and more physical discomfort are the characteristics of the disease, with a long course of disease and poor prognosis.

9. Depression characterized by learning difficulties

In schools, it is often found that some students with excellent academic performance suddenly become tired of learning, fear of learning, skipping or refusing to go to school, and their grades drop overall or suddenly. The phenomenon is partly due to depression, which has drawn attention from teachers and parents as the illness causes learning difficulties, distraction and memory loss in students.

10. White-collar depression

White-collar workers are faced with work and life pressure, psychological conflicts of reality and temptation, and irregular life, which often lead to disturbances in the body's internal environment, depression, idleness, sulking, overthinking, and insomnia , Dreaminess, dizziness, forgetfulness, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, irregular menstruation, menstrual abdominal pain and other symptoms.

What are the manifestations of depression

It's easy to mix depression and depressive mood together and not be able to identify them, so keep reading!

Depression is a mood disorder characterized by low mood. The cause is not yet clear, and the manifestations are also different. The main symptoms are three lows and somatic symptoms.

The three lows refer to depressed mood, slow thinking and decreased will activity :

1. In the expression of depression, the patient feels pessimistic, disappointed or frowning, or lacks interest and cannot be happy.

2. The manifestation of slow thinking is that they often feel unresponsive, and always feel that the brain seems to be rusty. Some people complain that they can't remember anything and talk less.

3. Decreased volitional activity is mainly manifested as not wanting to do things, having no motivation and desire, unwilling to participate in social activities, unwilling to do hygiene, or even unwilling to go to work, etc.

Common physical symptoms include sleep disorders, loss of appetite or weight loss, etc. Patients with severe depression may have negative suicidal thoughts or even suicide behaviors, and some patients with severe depression may have psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, etc.

I have lost interest in everything, and eating seems to be a dispensable thing. I am very hungry, but I just don’t want to eat; I am very sleepy, I can lie in bed all day, and sometimes I wake up early, such as staying up late last night in the early morning.

Regarding suicide, it is impossible to say that there is no such thought. Even when it is serious, the whole person has severe tinnitus, can't hear anything, and doesn't feel pain. In other words, at this time, even pain is a kind of enjoyment, and it has become a kind of refreshing feeling.

Life is like sinking into a quagmire, getting deeper and deeper, feeling like a terrible person, no one likes, no one cares, there is no way to get back to health, there is no way back, life is over , no one can save me, including myself. Perhaps the most difficult thing is that no one can understand it! Maybe at these times, one or two people will appear to help you and comfort you out of kindness or other unknown reasons.

I want to say:

When deciding to help patients with depression, please think carefully, and please don't leave easily after you decide!

What people with depression most want to hear

1. It's because you think too much, just read more. (Not one of the most annoying sentences)

Can you say: You will be happy when you think of something, let’s try it together

2. Are you afraid of living even if you are not afraid of death (living is more painful than dying)

Can you say: Tell me before you decide to die, I want to show you the world

3. Have you ever thought about someone who loves you?

Can you say: Please give yourself a little time, let's get to know this person, can we learn to understand you?

4. Why are you unhappy again? What's wrong with you? (Generally, depressed patients have less dopamine secretion, so the sad mood is amplified)

Can you say: You are suffering now, it’s okay, I will be with you

5. There are many people in the world who are miserable than you. (Depressed patients don't want to compare themselves with others, but feel that no one can understand them when they get sick.)

Can you say: Speak out the grievances in your heart, and I will try to understand you.

6. When he is sad and crying (don’t keep asking what’s wrong, or interrupt him when he’s talking.

You can: don’t say anything, just give him a hug and hug him well. When he is wronged, he is venting his negative emotions. No matter how much you feel sorry for him, don't interrupt his finally vented emotions.

How to get along with people with depression

I really want to take care of him and let him get well soon, but I'm really afraid that if I talk to him, I'll do something wrong. If I say the wrong thing, I will hurt him unintentionally. Depression makes people more vulnerable.

People with depression are different. They also want to be happy, but they have lost the ability to self-regulate and make themselves happy. "Be happy!" sounds like nonsense to him, and it has the same effect as saying "Don't die!" to someone who is about to die.

For a depressed patient, we must either understand him, or give him substantive advice or help, and do not try to ask the patient to cheer himself up through self-regulation, otherwise it will only aggravate his sense of powerlessness and make him more disappointed.

Depression is a disease. As patients, they are suffering from deep pain. It is a disease that no one wants. Therefore, we cannot criticize them with a critical attitude, and it is best to give them kindness.

I want to tell you a secret. Most people with depression don’t want others to know about it. They cry secretly and don’t want to share their emotions with others. They are afraid that they will not only be useless and worthless, but also bring negative energy to others.

So if she tells you, you may really be her only trust

Promise me, don't let him down, okay, he really really needs you!

Promise me, don't bother him, depression is a long-term healing process, it will appear again and again, you don't need to do anything, just spend more time with him.