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Depression
Medical Questions » Depression
| Name: Depression |
| Also known as: Affective Disorder; Melancholia; Nervous Breakdown |
| A disease, not just a state of mind, that affects 30% of people at some time in their life. Patients are not able to pull themselves together and overcome the depression without medical aid, although a determination to improve the situation helps the outcome. |
Causes of Depression
An imbalance of chemicals that normally occur in the brain to control mood. If too much of one chemical is produced, the patient becomes depressed if too much of another, the patient becomes manic. May be associated with hormonal changes that occur during a woman' s menstrual cycle or with menopause. |
Symptoms of Depression
There are two types of depression with different causes:
Endogenous depression: no obvious reason for the constant unhappiness, and patients slowly become sadder and sadder, more irritable, unable to sleep, lose appetite and weight, and feel there is no purpose in living. They may feel unnecessarily guilty, have a very poor opinion of themselves, feel life is hopeless and find it difficult to think or concentrate. After several months they usually improve, but sometimes it can take years. When they do start to improve, some patients with depression go too far the other way and become over-happy or manic. These patients are said to be manic depressive, have bipolar personality (generally severe swings of mood) or cyclothymic disorder (milder mood changes).
Reactive depression: the sadness that occurs after a death in the family, loss of a job, a marriage break-up or other disaster. Patients are depressed for a definite reason, and with time, will be often be able to cope with the situation, although some patients do require medical help. |
Tests for Depression
No diagnostic blood tests or brain scans, and diagnosis depends on the clinical acumen of the doctor. |
Treatment for Depression
Numerous medications that control the production or activity of the depressing chemicals in the brain are available (eg. Prozac, Aropax, Zoloft, Sinequan, Prothiaden, Efexor, Serzone), but most antidepressant drugs work slowly over several weeks. Hospitalization in order to use high doses of drugs or other treatments, and to protect the patient from the possibility of suicide, is sometimes necessary when the disease is first diagnosed. The other form of treatment used is shock therapy (electroconvulsive therapy — ECT), which is a safe and often very effective method of giving relief to patients with severe chronic depression.
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Complications of Depression of its treatment
Untreated depression may lead to attempted or actual suicide, which can be seen as a desperate plea for help. |
Likely Outcome of Depression
Medication and counseling by a general practitioner or psychiatrist will control the vast majority of cases. |
See related questions here.
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