What is Major Depression?

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Major depression is a common mood disorder that affects more than 15 percent of our population at some time in their lives.  Some of the symptoms of major depression are obvious: 

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• Low Mood that persists day after day for more than two weeks.

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• Often there is an accompanying pattern of the mood being worse in the morning, and less depressed later in the day, or the other way around.  This is called a “diurnal variation.”

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• The low mood can be mild or severe.  It can be persistent and pervasive.  It can affect motivation, ability to enjoy activity, sex drive, appetite.

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• Sometimes major depression is accompanied by thoughts of death, wishes of death, or thoughts of suicide. 

 

• In some depressions, the person can experience psychotic symptoms, such as hearing voices that aren’t there (hallucinations) or believing unusual convictions that aren’t true (delusions), such as that their body is rotting or that people wish they were dead, or that others are plotting against them. 

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• Persistent physical symptoms accompany the low mood, low energy, sluggishness, changes in weight / appetite, changes in sleep, tension headaches, loss of sexual appetite, physical pain or lowered pain threshold, heightened awareness of physical symptoms, increased illness concerns.

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• Persistent change in attitudes along with the low mood:  a negative outlook, knee-jerk pessimism, hopelessness.  Also, decreased self-esteem, decreased interest in social or recreational activities, generally negative attitudes, loss of confidence and initiative, these changes in attitude may be accompanied by irritability, anxiety, avoidance, etc.

 

• Changes in physical appearance sad face, droopy eyes, tired or angry appearance, increased sighing, slow movements, reduced eye contact, weight changes, poor grooming, poor hygiene, etc.

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Major Depression is a treatable disorder!

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Most people with major depression will feel better with the first or second antidepressant medication they try, or with psychotherapy, or neurofeedback, or with a combination of these.  Neurofeedback can also be used in treatment of depression. It is essential that the treatment be of sufficient intensity and length for enduring improvement to be a reasonable expectation.

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Depression that goes untreated or only partially treated may become more intense and painful, and harder to treat.   And because of the negative effects of depression on work, community life, friend and family life, it is not just the individual that suffers.  The effects of one person’s depression can hurt the people connected and hurt the individual’s health.  Like health leads to health, depression leads to depression. Not only will an individual benefit from good treatment.  The family and loved ones benefit as well.

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