Chapter 3 Chapter 1 What is Depression?

If you're struggling with depression, you're not alone.Because according to statistics, there are nearly 10 million people in the world who are in the same predicament.Depression has afflicted humans throughout history.As early as 2,400 years ago, the famous Greek physician Hippocrates defined depression as a type of temperament called melancholia.It's also worth noting that although we can't know how animals feel, they probably have the ability to feel depressed, or at least sometimes act as if they are.Therefore, we all have the potential for depression to a greater or lesser extent, just as we all have the potential for love, anxiety, and pain.Depression is not a measure of life circumstances or luck.In fact, many people throughout history have experienced depression. King Solomon, Lincoln, Churchill, and the Finnish composer Jan Sebilis are all good examples.It's worth remembering: Depression is not a human weakness. What does 'depression' mean? This is a difficult question to answer definitively, as the answer depends largely on the person answering. The word depression itself can be used to describe weather conditions, stock market declines, holes in the ground, and, of course, people Emotional state. It is derived from the Latin deprimere, meaning "to press down." The word was first used to describe an emotional state in the seventeenth century.

If you've been depressed, you've probably noticed that depression isn't just a lack of mood.In fact, it not only affects our perception and thinking, but also affects our energy, concentration, sleep status, and even sexual desire.Let us examine the impact of depression on our lives from some aspects. motivation Depression affects our motivation to do things.We feel apathetic, listless, and disinterested in many things—nothing seems worth doing, or even worth trying.We also lose interest in our children, and we feel guilty about it.Projects we were once passionate about are now dull and boring.We feel powerless to do anything, and even when we minimize our daily activities, we suffer from it.

mood People often think of depression as just feeling low or feeling saturated — and that's just part of depression.In fact, the core symptom of depression is called anhedonia (from Greek origin), referring to the loss of the ability to experience pleasure.We can feel that life has become very empty and there is no joy to speak of.However, despite our loss of the ability to experience happiness, our feelings of unhappiness increase and become irritable.We may keep our dissatisfaction and anger in our hearts, but sometimes we become extremely irritable, and even fight against our relatives and children.Later, we regret it and our depressive symptoms worsen.Two other common symptoms of depression are anxiety and fear.When we are depressed, we become vulnerable.Things that used to be easy for us to deal with are now inexplicably scary.Anxiety and fear are therefore important components of depression.In addition, other negative emotions associated with depression are sadness, guilt, shame, jealousy, etc.

thinking Depression affects our thinking in two ways.First, it affects concentration and memory.We find ourselves unable to concentrate on anything, including reading and watching TV.Our memory also becomes very poor, easy to forget.Even when we recall something, electricity is mostly negative and unpleasant. The second way depression affects our thinking is that it affects how we think about ourselves, our future, and the world at large.Few people feel good about themselves when they are depressed.Often they see themselves as without strengths, flawed, and worthless.If you ask a depressed person how they feel about their future, they'll usually say, "What's the future?" For them, the future is dark and full of failures.Like many strong emotions, depression can also lead us to extreme thinking patterns, where our thinking goes into an "all or nothing" mode—we are either a total winner or a total loser.

imagine There is a certain similarity in the images we generate when we are depressed.We may say that we are under a dark cloud, or that we are trapped in a deep pit, or that we are shut up in a dark room.Churchill called his own depression "the black dog".The imagination in depression is nothing more than darkness, unable to break free from its shackles.If you were asked to paint a picture of depression, you'd probably use dark, dark colors rather than bright ones.Darkness and being trapped are the most important imaginary content when depressed. Behavior When we are depressed, our behavior changes. We are less likely to engage in positive activities. Instead, we try to avoid social interactions and hide ourselves.Many activities that we used to enjoy doing now become unbearable because anything is too much effort and we seem to be doing less than we used to.The way we treat others has also changed.We will find that our positive interactions with others decrease and the conflicts with others continue to increase.If we feel anxious about it, we avoid contact with others and lose confidence in our interactions.

Depressed people sometimes become tense and have difficulty relaxing.They feel like trapped animals, walking around wanting to do something but not knowing what to do.Sometimes, the desire to escape is very strong, but it is not clear where to go or what to do.On the other hand, some depressed people become unresponsive, walking slowly and stopping in and out.Their thinking also becomes sluggish, feeling "heavy" about everything. physiological When people are anxious, the body will produce nephrine ten: adrenaline.Similarly, depression can cause physiological changes in people, affecting our body and brain activity.So far, no harm has been found from these changes.However, in the depressed state, changes in brain activity were evident.In fact, any psychological state, such as happiness, sexual arousal, agitation, anxiety or depression, is closely related to physiological changes in the brain.Recent studies have shown that some of the above-mentioned psychological states are related to the secretion of stress hormones (such as cortisone), which indicates that the depressive response includes components of stress activity.Depression also affects the production of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, the most studied of which are monoamine neurotransmitters.Generally speaking, in the depressed state, the secretion level of these chemicals in the brain decreases, which is why taking monoamine drugs can alleviate the symptoms of depression.

It is speculated that the above physiological changes may be the cause of our adverse symptoms.Depression not only affects our energy, but also our sleep (although some people sleep more while depressed).Also, a loss of appetite is a common symptom of depression, where food tastes bad and we lose weight.Of course, some people gain weight when they are depressed. Social interaction As much as we try to hide our depression, it can still affect others.When interacting with people, we can become dull, irritable, and often reject others.It is worth mentioning that these reactions are common to depression, and it is necessary for us to recognize them and not be ashamed of them, otherwise our depressive symptoms will be aggravated.There are a number of different reasons why depression affects our relationships with others.It may be that we have hidden conflicts that we cannot sort out, that we express silent resentment toward others, that we feel out of control, or that our friends and partners do not understand what is happening to us.In short, please remember a sentence: "Laugh, the whole world laughs with you; cry, only you cry to the corner." Sometimes, it is difficult for others to understand our depression.Are depressions all the same?

The answer to this question is no.There are many different types of depression, and experts and scholars usually refer to depression as "dominant depression".According to the indicators of the American Psychiatric Association, as long as a person has more than five of the following possible symptoms for two consecutive weeks, he can be diagnosed as suffering from dominant depression. For professional research, the above symptoms are of great significance, but they cannot fully reveal the complexity and diversity of depression.For example, I think being trapped is a common symptom of depression, whereas a psychologist might think hopelessness is a common symptom.The purpose of this table is to show how depression is viewed by professionals.

．Depression. ．Significantly less happiness, at least one of the above two ．Significant decrease in appetite and at least 5% weight loss. ．sleep disorder. ．Irritable or depressed mood. ．Poor energy and exhausted every day. ．Feelings of worthlessness, lack of confidence, guilt. ．difficulty concentrating ．Frequent thoughts of death or suicide If you have at least 4 of these symptoms, you can know whether you have depression The researchers made a distinction between two types of depression: those that occur alone and those that alternate with mania.In a manic state, people feel extremely energetic, confident, and sexually aroused.If the manic state is not particularly severe, such people are likely to perform exceptionally well.People who alternate bouts of depression and mania are often diagnosed with a 'bipolar disorder' (meaning they can experience two states of mood -- high and low), which the old school called bipolar disorder. And those who only People who experience a depressive state are diagnosed as "unipolar depression."

Another distinction that researchers make about depression is psychotic depression and neurotic depression.Patients with psychotic depression experience various false ideas called "delusions".For example, a person without any physical illness may feel that he is terminally ill and will die soon.Many years ago, a patient of mine contacted a lawyer before the hospital to discuss matters related to making a will and funeral. She was convinced that she would not live to Christmas.She believed that the medical staff kept the truth from her in order not to upset her, and she kept telling her children how to live after her death (which, of course, caused a lot of stress for her family).

Sometimes, patients with psychotic depression experience strong feelings of guilt.For example: They will stubbornly believe that they started the Bosnian War, or did other terrible things.For now, mental depression is a very serious psychological disorder, which is relatively rare compared with non-mental depression. Experts also distinguish between depression rooted in melancholia and event-related depression, such as depression caused by a job loss, the death of a loved one, or a breakdown in a relationship.At present, although we do find differences in the nature of the various types of depression, as well as differences in clinical symptoms, this distinction is still meaningless.In psychotherapy, a deeper understanding of the patient reveals that those depressed patients who seem to have their roots in depression also have corresponding early experiences.This is not to say that some people are more prone to depression than others, just that it is unwise to categorize depression according to its cause. Clearly, some depressions are more severe and devastating than others.Many depressed patients live with their symptoms until they go away on their own.For other more serious depressions, the symptoms are difficult to disappear on their own, and professional treatment is very necessary.There are significant differences in the onset, severity, course, and frequency of attacks among different types of depression. onset Depression can have an acute onset (eg, over days or weeks) or a gradual onset (over months or years).It can appear at any time in life, but late adolescence, early adulthood, and later life are sensitive periods for the onset of depression. Severity Whether depressive symptoms are mild, moderate, or severe varies from individual to individual. course of disease Some patients with depression completely disappear within a few weeks or months, while others may have a prolonged course of the disease that lasts for several years.It is generally believed that "chronic depression" lasts for more than two years, and its prevalence accounts for 10%-20% of all depressions. Frequency of onset Some depressive disorders are transient, while others are recurrent. The recurrent nature of depression is noteworthy but not surprising.Just imagine, if you feel inferior and worthless when you are young, one day this inferiority complex will completely overcome you and make you feel like a failure in life.Although medication can help you relieve symptoms, the underlying sense of failure and inferiority still exists.Drugs don't mature us or free us from underlying misconceptions.Is depression a common disease? As mentioned earlier, depression is a common disease. Taking dominant depression as an example, its incidence is as follows: woman man 4%-10% 2%-3.5% occurred in a certain period 10% - 26% 5% - 12% exist throughout life Hospitalization 1%o Out-of-hospital treatment for mental illness 2%o—30%0 The above materials show that one out of every four or five people has suffered from depression at a certain stage of their life, and the incidence rate of women is three times higher than that of men.Studies have found that certain social groups, such as the unemployed, are more prone to depression.Recent studies have shown that the incidence of depression in this century has shown a slow upward trend, and the reasons for this are still unclear.Changes in socioeconomic conditions, family breakdown, hopelessness among young people (especially the unemployed), and rising expectations of themselves may all contribute to this phenomenon.