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Mental Health Information
What is Depression?
Depression is a common but serious medical illness that can affect people of all ages and cultures. In contrast to the normal, temporary emotional experiences of sadness or loss, depression is persistent and can interfere significantly with an individual's ability to function. Depression can be alleviated with effective treatment, but far too many people with depression are never diagnosed, and thus suffer needlessly.
Symptoms of unipolar depression can vary with gender, age and ethnicity and can include:
- persistent sad mood and/or irritability
- loss interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed
- change in appetite or weight
- difficulty sleeping or oversleeping
- physical slowing or agitation, energy loss
- feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt, difficulty thinking or concentrating
- recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
Some people have a chronic but less severe form of depression, called dysthymia, and others suffer from bipolar disorder (also called "manic depression"), which is characterized by dramatic mood swings between the features of depression described above and mania, and sometimes by episodes of psychosis.
Depression can be devastating to all areas of a person's everyday life, including family relationships, friendships, and the ability to go to work or go to school. Many people still believe that the emotional symptoms caused by depression are "not real," and that a person should be able to shake off the symptoms if only he or she were trying hard enough. Because of these inaccurate beliefs, people with depression either many not recognize that they have a treatable disorder or may be discouraged from seeking or staying on treatment because of feelings of shame and stigma. Too often, untreated or inadequately treated depression leads to suicide.
Research has shown that stress in the form of loss, especially death of close family members or friends, may trigger major depression in vulnerable individuals. In addition, research supports existence of a genetic component to risk of depression.
What Treatments Are Available for Depression?
Antidepressant medications are effective treatments for depression, especially when combined with certain types of psychotherapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT) have been shown to be particularly useful. More than 80 percent of people with depression improve when they receive appropriate treatment with medication, psychotherapy, or the combination.
What Are Anxiety Disorders?
The different anxiety disorders are all illnesses that characterized by excessive and persistent fears and worries that interfere with an individual's ability to cope effectively with everyday life.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is excessive, uncontrollable worry about everyday things. This constant worry affects daily functioning and can cause physical symptoms. The focus of GAD worry can shift, usually focusing on issues like job, finances, health of both self and family; but it can also include more mundane issues such as, chores, car repairs and being late for appointments. The intensity, duration and frequency of the worry are disproportionate to the issue and interfere with the sufferer's performance of tasks and ability to concentrate.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is characterized by uncontrollable obsessions and compulsions that the sufferer usually recognizes as being excessive or unreasonable. Obsessions are recurring thoughts or impulses that are intrusive or inappropriate and cause the sufferer anxiety. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or rituals performed by the OCD sufferer, performance of these rituals neutralize the anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts, relief is only temporary. Compulsions are incorporated into the person's daily routine and are not always directly related to the obsessive thought, for example, a person who has aggressive thoughts may count floor tiles in an effort to control the thought.
Panic attacks, which are defined by the abrupt onset of episodes of intense fear or discomfort, include at least four of the following symptoms:
- a feeling of imminent danger or doom;
- the need to escape;
- palpitations;
- sweating;
- trembling;
- shortness of breath or a smothering feeling;
- a feeling of choking;
- chest pain or discomfort;
- nausea or abdominal discomfort;
- dizziness or lightheadedness;
- a sense of things being unreal, depersonalization;
- a fear of losing control or "going crazy";
- a fear of dying;
- tingling sensations;
- chills or hot flushes.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is not a disorder to be associated solely with military personnel, as it has been in the past. It has been shown that exposure to traumas such as a serious accident, a natural disaster, or criminal assault can result in PTSD. When the aftermath of a traumatic experience interferes with normal functioning, the person may be suffering from PTSD. PTSD can occur at any age, from childhood to old age and traumatic stress can be cumulative over a lifetime. Responses to trauma include feelings of intense fear, helplessness, and/or horror.
Phobias are characterized by the intense and irrational fear of particular situations, objects or activities. Individuals with phobias are acutely aware of the physical discomfort that accompanies their anxiety, which often leads to avoidance of whatever is feared altogether. Adults usually recognize that their fears are unfounded or excessive, but suffer them nonetheless. Social phobia is marked by an intense terror of social or performance situations, wherein an individual is easily embarrassed, and worries that others will notice, judge them, and think poorly of him/her.
What Treatments Are Available for the Anxiety Disorders?
Once diagnosed, these illnesses can also be effectively managed and treated, usually with a combination of medication and psychotherapy.