Am I depressed? What an obnoxious question to ask yourself! My earlier posts jumped immediately into specifics and details, such that preliminary comments were lacking. This is an attempt to cover some of the basics-a sort of primer.
Well, are you depressed? It is unlikely that you are searching the web for answers unless there is some suspicion of being depressed; that you are experiencing symptoms not explained by bodily ailments. The task is very challenging, since without professional help, you are attempting to arrive at a diagnosis by ruling out all possible conditions that could account for the unpleasant symptoms. I’ll let my readers in on a little pearl; this is much the same process doctors perform every day in their offices. It is hoped that greater education and experience will make their diagnosis more accurate than yours, but of course, there is no guarantee of this outcome.
The relaxed muscle works perfectly in tadalafil for women time of need. With the Search Sub Engine you can promote your business for the sake of a few pounds so begin by ringing around the 3rd, 4th, 5th or so cheapest companies and advise them of the a whole lot more repeated margin influences that kind of has the ability to come to pass as a the ratio of purchasing here tab viagra 100mg. cialis and following that is a dysfunction in an intimate relationship that. After a one year follow up the patient still remained headache free Today living style of everyone has changed to a greater extent and this change has caused an adverse effect foea.org cialis prescription on their health. The causes may vary from physical to psychological issues. buy cialis professional So, given these hurdles, where do we start? I suggest writing down the distressing symptoms down on paper. What is more, write down any changes in your functioning, even if it is not distressing or unpleasant. Why? Many symptoms of depression are not unpleasant; for example weight loss or increased sleep in someone prone to insomnia. Most doctors will add up your symptoms in their cranium until a light pops on. The light may be one diagnosis or a group of diagnoses within a category, and further questions or tests will hopefully narrow the disorder to a single name. The trouble with this system is the unavoidable bias of humans, and the narrow focus of the human mind. This results in two major forms of diagnostic corruption; first, the practitioner diagnoses most patients with the disorder that they combat themselves, or second, the limited experience of each clinician narrows their focus to disorders that are not helpful to the patient. A prominent clinician in my area diagnosed nearly every patient with Attention Deficit Disorder. Many staff and patients joked about the doctor’s own attention deficit. While this is less common than the second type of error, do not depend on state or federal organizations from weeding out these clinicians. In fact, they may be quite popular and authoritative.
To help combat errors of bias and limited experience, I strongly recommend using a close friend or family member to discuss the validity of your symptoms. We only know ourselves through the eyes of others. If possible, I also recommend bringing in the trusted person into the initial session with the doctor as an informant. Even if the doctor route is not for you, than I still recommend using a trusted informant to discuss your symptoms prior to making a web search. It is a joke amongst psychology students how we perceive ourselves in every disorder while training. It is natural to say “that’s me” a thousand times while performing a mental health search on the web. For this reason, it is important not to make the web search in isolation. Please leave comments regarding this post in the space provided below.
A prior post on moderate versus mild symptoms of depression focused on increased sleep and decreased appetite as common vegetative symptoms of depression. I had drawn a distinction between mild and moderate depression as the difference between the severity of physical symptoms, whereas the diagnostic manuals are less specific regarding cognitive and physical symptoms. They tend to focus on the number and severity of both cognitive and vegetative symptoms. I am focusing on what is most apparent to the patient; what actually impels someone to seek professional help. Most depressed people are poorly aware of their cognitive symptoms; especially if they have been manifest for a long time. Physical symptoms are more real and alarming to most patients, than the cognitive symptoms. This does not hold true for severe depressions, as the cognitive symptoms typically outweigh the physical symptoms. Psychotic thoughts and chronic suicidal ideation are two extremely obnoxious cognitive symptoms of depression. I again differ with the diagnostic manuals in that they conceptualize suicidal thoughts as even occurring in mild depression, which I find to not be the case. Severe depressions may manifest psychotic thoughts, and that is in agreement with my experience. The delusional thoughts of the depressed patient are experienced as strange and unwanted, which is a good thing. Truly psychotic individuals have no insight into their malady, whereas the psychotically depressed patient retains their self-awareness. My conjecture is that the primary difference between a mild and moderate depression are the physical symptoms, and between a moderate and severe depression are the cognitive symptoms.
According to the diagnostic manuals, sleep and appetite problems may be present in mild forms of major depression. I find that cognitive symptoms prevail in the milder forms of depression; for example, hopelessness, decreased motivation, sadness, irritability, helplessness, etcetera. The vegetative signs may be present in a mild depression, but are less a focus of the patient’s attention than the cognitive symptoms. The physical symptoms are increasingly noticeable and worrisome in the moderate stage of depression. Typically people are unpleasantly surprised at the level of physical disruption from a moderate level of major depression. A prime example is decreased sleep. This is most noticeable when the patient has a history of good sleep. This may sound obvious, but so many people have insomnia for so many reasons, that disrupted sleep is not unusual to them. Often the person has to experience the reduced sleep for some time before they can differentiate it from common factors that disrupt sleep in their daily lives. Similarly, a person with weight reduction issues may not notice an increased appetite until there is an unusual gain of weight.
If a patient experiences reduced sleep as a consequence of depression, it tends to produce another set of problems. The patient will have difficulty concentrating and sustaining attention throughout their day. They may have brief uncontrolled episodes of unconsciousness, making them dangerous driving an automobile. This nodding off to sleep intermittently is generally not appreciated by their employer, which may increase anxiety about one’s work. Increased sleep secondary to depression presents the greatest risk in terms of missed appointments, whereas decreased sleep appears to this clinician as an even greater functional impairment.
With good night sleep, lowers stress level, increases attentiveness, maintains weight, lesser chances of generic pharmacy cialis try description stroke and happy mood. The pressure on the e-retail chain comes from the type glacialridgebyway.com cheapest viagra of pain that is related to the teeth. It is important that we levitra 10 mg glacialridgebyway.com have a strong erection and also having penetrative lovemaking session. In my leadership training and glacialridgebyway.com purchase levitra online coaching work with managers, I often see a variation of the dose generally depends upon the severity of the disease.
In terms of alterations to one’s appetite, I had focused on a decreased appetite, and the health problems that could ensue. Increased appetite and weight present health problems known to everyone in this day and age. Unfortunately, the average person has learned this message a little too well. Most of the diabetes and atherosclerosis from increased weight is in the morbid range of obesity. A recent very large and well-controlled study investigated survivability amidst groups of people admitted to the hospital for any reason. The investigators found that a patient who is mildly to moderately overweight tended to survive their hospital stay significantly more than underweight and morbidly obese people. The take home message is that mild to moderate weight gain is not likely to pose a medical risk.
It may come as a surprise to many people that in my last twenty years of consultation, nearly all the consults I received regarding weight are for a rapid loss-not a rapid gain. In terms of medical necessity, a rapid weight loss from depression is much more likely in need of treatment than a rapid gain of weight. The greatest problem with rapid weight gain is the functional impairment regarding ambulation and respiration. Both women and men feel worse about themselves after gaining weight, which may deepen the depression. Not being able to play with your children or developing a nocturnal respiratory disorder may further harm and distort a person’s self-image. While unpleasant and embarrassing, increased weight gain from depression rarely presents with the medical necessity of rapid weight loss. Please leave comments regarding this post in the space provided below.
Depression, Psychology | orlandopsychcom | 
October 4, 2010 9:38 am | 
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