This morning, #Depression is not a simple bad mood# became a hot search.
With the development of domestic psychological popularization in recent years, people are no longer unfamiliar with the word "depression". However, as a disease, " depression " is far from the attention and understanding it deserves, and it is even difficult for many people to understand and accept. There are also many ridicule and abuse on the Internet.
In recent years, the rate of depression visits in my country has remained relatively low, which is caused by the prejudice and inconsistency of depression by many people.
Today is October 10 World Mental Health Day . We want to appeal to everyone here to pay attention to "depression": What exactly is "depression"? What kind of impact will it have on people? What methods can help us cope with "depression"? Let’s take a look at
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inhibition of Depression is not a simple bad mood,
is a disease
empty and can't feel any emotions. "Nothing, nothing can be felt. Every day, all day, nothing can be felt (Knightsmith, 2015). After a long time, you will not remember how you should react and feel to some things, and live like an "outsider" in your own life.
In the fifth edition of the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the diagnostic criteria for depression include 's low mood, losing interest and pleasure in the things and activities around you, significantly reducing activities, feeling fatigue or lack of energy, insomnia or excessive sleep almost every day, it is difficult to concentrate, constantly blaming and guilt, feeling worthless, and may have a tendency to commit suicide, etc.
and even some people who have been depressed for a long time get along with their long-term desire for suicide. At first, the idea of suicide may scare them, but over time they have become accustomed to it and have learned to try to find reasons to continue living every time they want to commit suicide (Borchard, 2014).
But this does not mean that people who are depressed for a long time will not be happy.
At some moments or a period of time, they will suddenly feel that everything is "real" again, as if they are back to the time when there is no depression. But when they think of the short-term happiness disappearing, they will be even more depressed. Some people also mistakenly think that they should not be happy when they are depressed, so when they feel in a good mood, they will feel guilty, or feel that their depression is indeed pretending (Knightsmith, 2015).
Sometimes, people with depression do not look pessimistic and listless as most people imagine, and lack interest in everything. They will cover themselves up with the mask of "optimism". This phenomenon is called " smiling depression " in some psychological academic discussions.
Although "smile depression" is not a diagnostic category for mental illness, it is a type of The response pattern of in patients with depression to their own condition. Clinical psychologist Rita Labeaune described it as "acting happily in front of others, but suffering from symptoms of depression inward."
The risk of "smile depression" is that not only is it difficult for them to be perceived by the people around them, but sometimes it is difficult for even themselves to find that they have depression. When they sense those "wrong" emotions, they sometimes think, "I don't seem to live like myself, I feel very empty, but nothing is wrong." They just put their emotions aside, don't deal with them, and keep moving forward.
Sometimes, people with depression will pretend to get better in order not to worry too much about the people around them. And because people around you always hope that depressed people will get better, it will be easy to make people believe this illusion. But for depressed people, always maintains a "normal" appearance in front of people, like living in a lie, feeling bitter and tired (Knightsmith, 2015).
Some depressed people gradually feel that "depression" has become a part of their identity - "I didn't just get depression. I was a depressed person." Depression has affected all aspects of their lives and has become the center of their lives and actions (Folk-Williams, n.d.).
long period depression,
will also leave "personal scars"
Does depression change a person's personality? A netizen once wrote that when he looked through his past diary and looked at what he thought when he was not feeling depression, he felt that he was "a completely different person" (Fauxypants, 2015).
Research supports this statement. believes that depression attacks will change a person's personality, and this part of the change becomes the cause of depression relapse. This change is called "personality scar" (Rosenström, 2015).
The scar theory is proposed because people notice that people who have had depression are more likely to have depression again in the future than those who have never suffered from depression (Wichers, 2010), just like where there are scars left, they will be more likely to be injured next time.
For example, the first episode of depression will result from some serious negative events (e.g. Losing a Beloved); and after this episode is relieved, the patient will relapse from milder events (e.g. Losing a Pet), or even without social and psychological pressure.
study found that after the onset of depression, people's "harm avoidance" will increase (Rosenström, 2015).
People with higher levels of harm avoidance will be more neurotic and respond more intensely to uncomfortable stimulation. And even in a safe and supportive environment, they still feel scared. The subconscious feeling of "feeling that the world is dangerous" is not under their control. At the same time, they will be more negative when dealing with external stimuli, are more likely to feel tired, and are relatively less willing to try new things.
Researchers believe that the increase in the degree of harm avoidance is the adaptive adjustment of people after illness (Rosenström, 2015).
When we are depressed, our physiological and psychological state is poor and our ability to deal with dangers has decreased. will then spontaneously take a more cautious attitude to deal with the external environment and will also be more sensitive to negative stimuli. These were originally intended to better protect ourselves. But in fact, this change makes people more likely to feel depressed.
Taking social interaction as an example, depression patients will be overly worried about the pain caused by being rejected during social interaction. On the one hand, the pain will feel stronger for him; on the other hand, worrying about pain will make his mood worse. So he spontaneously isolated himself from others. However, the loneliness caused by this self-isolation actually aggravates depression (Steger & Kashdan, 2009).
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1) Sometimes, medication treatment is necessary.
Many people are worried that taking antidepressants will lead to addiction, so they resist taking medication. In fact, antidepressants are not addictive. But everyone's response to each psychiatric drug may be different, and you need to spend some time trying and adjusting to find the right medicine for yourself.
Q1: Under what circumstances do you need to choose drug treatment?
If you continue to have vegetable symptoms, you should consider seeking drug treatment because its appearance means that the patient has a disorder at the level of biochemical .
The plant symptoms related to depression disorders include: sleep changes, appetite changes, fatigue, loss of sexual desire, serious concentration, significant memory loss, poor feeling during the day (especially when I woke up), completely unable to feel happy, etc.
Q2: What are the precautions when taking medicine?
First of all, although drugs can help eliminate or slow plant symptoms, antidepressants are not happy drugs. It cannot let your emptiness and unhappiness disappear.
Secondly, the drug takes time to take effect, and it usually takes effect in 2 to 4 weeks. Many people did not see the effect immediately, thinking that the drug was ineffective and stopped the medicine privately. Discontinuation of medication at will increases the chance of recurrence. Do not stop the medication without authorization before discussing with the doctor, otherwise it may cause unpredictable adverse reactions. But if you still don’t feel the effects of antidepressants after 6-8 weeks, you should discuss with your doctor, who may change the dosage or type of drug.
After taking the medicine, the individual needs to take the medicine differently. Usually, taking the medicine for 6-8 weeks will pass the acute attack of depression, but you cannot stop taking the medicine at this time. You usually need to continue taking the medicine for 6 months, and then gradually reduce the dose of the medicine under the guidance of a doctor. If it recurs during the process, the medication will be resumed.
In addition, antidepressants may have side effects, such as when you first start using SSRI, you may feel dry mouth, nausea, headache and even insomnia. The side effects of some drugs will gradually improve over time. If it does not improve, you can inform the doctor that the doctor can reduce side effects by changing the medication or changing the original dose of the medication.
Finally, I want to say that patients with depression are easily despaired and negative about treatment because they are affected by depression. Especially for patients with periodic depression, repeated attacks can be frustrating and exhausting (Van Rhoads & Gelenberg, 2005). But maintaining expectations for treatment is important, and studies have found that the more people tend to think they can benefit from treatment, the more they will be effective (Rutherford, et al., 2010).
2) In addition to asking professionals for help, there are also some daily methods that can help us better deal with depression.
You can write a diary. not only records the events that occur, but records the feelings and thoughts surrounding the events. People in depression often describe their thoughts as "stuck", as if their minds are formed into pieces and they don't know what they are thinking. Writing a diary can help us talk to our own mind (psyche).
During the writing process, you may notice thoughts that you have not realized in the past and flashed through. When a person's subjective thoughts become objective words and present on paper, you can observe it, change it, and even destroy it. You may find that when facing the same thing, you can describe it in a different way than at that time and deal with it with different feelings (Grayson-Mathis, 2002).
Remember the moments you feel good. Even after receiving treatment, we will feel very bad, even worse than death. But remember the moments you have felt good so we know that the pain of depression will not be eternal and that we have the ability to feel happy.
Finally, you must have reasonable expectations for depression. and depression can be a long process, which may go through once or even multiple repetitions; and even after treatment, we may still feel depressed or painful in the future because of some things. Although treatment cannot completely eliminate the problem, we can learn to coexist with depression better, and by then, you may find that depression is not that scary either.
Depression is indeed true. It is something that is real, not a conjecture. If you feel that your symptoms have reached a very serious level, you can seek help from professional institutions and psychotherapists to relieve your inner pain;
If someone around you shows depression, even if you find it difficult to understand, you can at least learn to respect. If you see this , you can also forward this article to those in need.
or above, good night.
ps. In fact, the founder of ky is also a person who recovered from depression. You can search for "money shop Qian Xiaoxiao" on Weibo , Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili to follow her personal account.
References:
Borchard, T. (2014). What suicidal depression feels like. Everyday Health.
Cheung, R. Y., & Park, I. J. (2010). Anger suppression, interdependent self-constructual, and depression among Asian American and European American college students. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 16(4), 517.
Fauxypants,2015. Anyone else feeling like the depression has changed their personality?. Reddit.
Folk-Williams,J. (n.d.). Has depression becomes part of your identity? Storied Mind.
Grayson-Mathis,C.E. (2002).Writing your way out of depression. WebMD.
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotions regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 85(2), 348.
Knightsmith,P. (2015). This Is what depression feels like -- In thewords of sufferingers. Lifehack.
Rosenström, T., Jylhä, P., Pulkki-Råback, L., Holma, M., Raitakari, O. T., Isometsä, E., & Keltikangas-Järvinen, L. (2015). Long-term personality changes and predictive adaptive responses after depressive episodes. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(5), 337-344.
Rutherford, B. R., Wager, T. D., & Roose, S. P. (2010). Expectancy and the treatment of depression: a review of experimental methodology and effects on patient outcome. Current psychology reviews, 6(1), 1-10.
Steger, M. F., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Depression and everyday social activity, belonging, and well-being. Journal of counseling psychology, 56(2), 289.
Wichers, M., Geschwind, N., Van Os, J., & Peeters, F. (2010). Scars in depression: is a conceptual shift necessary to solve the puzzle?. Psychological medicine, 40(3), 359-365.
