It's not whims, it's a disease
Even in a very difficult life situation, a person tries to find a way out by saying to himself: "everything could be much worse", "there is no thin without good, it will still get better," etc. In this we are helped by psychological defense mechanisms, which are involuntarily included in difficult situations. Since our life usually develops exactly as we foretell and anticipate it, it's no surprise that after a while the circumstances really change for the better. However, sometimes a person remains depressed, full of pessimism even when the difficult situation has resolved or did not arise at all, and his condition is incomprehensible to others. In these cases, it is already a painful decrease in mood, called depression, which requires not just sympathy, but treatment.
Depression is a disorder that is widespread in all countries, social strata and cultures. She suffers about 5% of the world's population. Women suffer from depression about twice as often as men. The onset of mood disorder is more often at the age of 30-40 years, in children it is much less common, and in the elderly it is much more frequent. Approximately 12% of people during their lives experience at least one episode of depression reaching the level when treatment is needed.
Unfortunately, even in economically developed countries, almost half of these people do not seek medical help at all - some of them believe that what is happening is a psychological reaction to life's difficulties and therefore the doctor here will not help. The other part regards its condition as a bodily illness, someone hopes that "it will pass by itself", someone simply is afraid of contacts with the psychiatric service. One way or another, but more than 80% of cases of depressive disorders are not recognized and patients suffer without help. This state of affairs looks ridiculous and offensive, because if depression is discovered in time, most of these people can be provided with prompt and effective help.
How depression manifests itself
Symptoms are numerous, but very characteristic. The main symptom of depression is a low mood, which a person can call sadness, depression, depression, despondency, loss of interest in life, etc. Such a condition occurs either without any external reason at all, or after some unpleasant event (quarrels with relatives, conflict at work, family member's illness, monetary losses, etc.), but the degree and duration of mood reduction are much more significant.
It is also unusual that when unpleasant events in a person's life pass or even give way to something pleasant, the mood does not equalize, pleasant events are not found in the soul of the response, do not bring pleasure or even intensify sadness. The feeling is often irrational and does not depend on the degree of a person's life success. In a state of depression, he was tested, for example, by Jack London, the Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway, the Russian millionaire industrialist and philanthropist Savva Morozov, A.S. Pushkin and LN Tolstoy, an outstanding American film actor Rod Steiger and one of the greatest politicians of the XX century, Winston Churchill.
The next characteristic symptom of depression is joylessness, which manifests itself in the loss of former interests and the ability to enjoy the things or activities that previously enjoyed such pleasure. A person lives as if by inertia or by necessity, feels exhausted ("like a squeezed lemon"), loses motivation to work and in general to make any effort. Decreased activity, vigor, motor retardation and increased fatigue, which had not previously been noted. A person becomes inactive, inactive, powerless, lies a lot. With shallow depressions, this is manifested by the deterioration of professional activity, with deep depressions, the fulfillment of even simple domestic duties becomes a problem. Usually, active and motivated people stop not only doing business, but even watching their appearance. It's hard to force yourself to get out of bed, get dressed, take food, phone, etc.
Additional symptoms
Depression is also manifested by a number of additional symptoms. The most frequent are reduced self-esteem, an irrational sense of guilt and a loss of self-confidence. Man constantly feels bad, incapable, useless, not justifying the hopes placed on him. It becomes difficult to make decisions - even a simple professional or household task grows into an insoluble problem. Man constantly feels himself exhausted, overloaded, overwhelmed by a heap of deeds and responsibilities, which he is no longer able to cope with.
Reduced self-esteem is clearly manifested in speech and non-verbal behavior - the person speaks hesitantly, in a low voice, is inexpressive, afraid to attract the attention of others, tries to huddle in a corner and take as little space as possible (podzhatye legs, look at the floor, avoiding looking into the eyes other). In bed, he often takes an embryonic posture, or "embryo pose", on his side, bending over, folding his arms over his chest, with his chin down.
The appearance of a person in a state of depression is also characteristic: a pale face, dilated pupils, an extinct look, dry skin, drooping shoulders, predominance in gray and black colors, lack of cosmetics and ornaments, slovenliness and indifference to one's appearance. The heavier the depression, the more pronounced these manifestations.
Another characteristic symptom of depression is slow, difficult thinking, a decrease in intellectual productivity. The attention of a person is scattered, it is difficult for him to concentrate on something, to follow the course of thought, to grasp the meaning of the film, the story or what the interlocutor says. Thoughts in the head are few, they are usually unpleasant content and peppery revolve around some minor trifles.
Even the basic instincts in a state of depression weaken - sexual senses, appetite, pleasure from food disappear, therefore weight of a body decreases. Characterized by a sleep disorder in the form of early awakenings - a person wakes up 2-3 hours or more earlier than usual and can no longer fall asleep. These early morning hours are very hard for him - there is no sleep, time drags on slowly and there is no feeling that he rested. And even dreams do not dream! It often happens that in the afternoon or evening the mood improves somewhat - there is a desire to do something, activity increases, an appetite appears, etc.
A person in depression experiences a number of unpleasant sensations from the internal organs - pain or constriction in the chest, palpitation, muscle weakness, a feeling that the body is filled with leaden heaviness, headaches, nausea, dry mouth, difficult to describe unpleasant sensations in the head, belly or limbs. Many bodily manifestations of depression are associated with an increase in the tone of the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes there are so many bodily manifestations of depression that they become the main content of the patient's complaints and he seeks help from a cardiologist, neuropathologist, gastroenterologist and other specialists who do not find bodily diseases explaining complaints. Finally, one of the characteristic manifestations of depression is thought about the unwillingness to live - from just frustration and fatigue from life to distinct suicidal plans.
Why does depression occur?
The causes of this disorder are being intensively studied by specialists of various fields for many decades. They are very diverse and in the most general form can be divided into two groups - the causes of biological (biochemical, genetic, etc.) and the causes of psychological (mental trauma, personality traits, thinking and behavior of a person, his relationship with others, etc.) .
In the biological (biochemical) plan, the cause of depressive states is the violation of metabolism in the brain of substances - transmitters of nerve impulses, especially serotonin and norepinephrine. With depression, the content of these substances decreases at the junction of nerve cells - synapses. If there are corresponding symptoms, the methods of treating depression can be different - from medication to psychotropic (hypnosis).
As with many other illnesses, the susceptibility of depression varies considerably among people - some even endure severe life-threatening injuries, while in others, depression develops on an insignificant occasion or generally with full well-being. This is probably due to the peculiarities of metabolism - neurotransmitters and hormones - in the brain, as well as with hereditary-constitutional features. Data from genetic studies show that the more blood relatives of people who have been depressed, and the closer the degree of kinship, the higher the probability for a person to develop this disorder during life. However, hereditary predisposition is far from fatal.
The causes of depression in a number of cases are psychological factors - severe life circumstances and bereavements: illness and death of a loved one, loss of the former social status, financial difficulties, serious interpersonal conflicts, setbacks in achieving life goals, etc. It is important to note that not all unpleasant life events lead to depression, but only those that affect the most important, essential in the system of life values of a particular person. Therefore, one and the same event (for example, loss of employment or retirement) can cause suffering and depression for one, and for another - not an injury at all.
Dark thoughts are dangerous!
There is already a proven close relationship between our feelings and thoughts. Therefore, when the mood of a person decreases, in his mind, in itself, erroneous and irrational negative thoughts and judgments about oneself and others (negative automatic thoughts) arise. To think of a person in a state of depression, there are several characteristics:
• a negative attitude towards oneself - a person considers himself to be bad, unworthy, incapable, incapacitated, incurably ill, etc., not only at this point in time, but also in life as a whole;
• a negative interpretation of his life at the present time and his current life experience - it seems to the person that the world around him and people around him are unfair, present exorbitant demands, are engaged only in creating insurmountable obstacles to him, in any of his actions, even right and successful, see only failures and losses;
• a negative attitude towards one's own future - a person sees him in a gloomy light, as an endless series of difficulties, failures and deprivations.
All other symptoms of depression, according to this theory, are explained as a consequence of the abnormalities described above. With this type of depression of symptoms, there can be many methods of treatment. Bad thoughts change the behavior of a person and his relationships with others (that is, for example, considering himself an outcast, a person really avoids contact with people and suffers from loneliness). This, in turn, leads to a further reduction in mood, which gives rise to even more sombre thoughts - the spiral of depression is more and more developed.
It is believed that the development of depression predisposes some of the personality characteristics of a person - increased punctuality, exacting to oneself and constant dissatisfaction with oneself, striving for perfection in everything, including minor details. Also, this leads to monotonous activity, a tendency to see in everything only the shortcomings and negative sides, the inability to enjoy everyday life and establish warm and trustful relations with others. Of course, depression can also occur in people of another warehouse, but the presence of these features in the character of these features increases the susceptibility to this disorder.