Occasional sadness is part of our daily life. These feelings
are short-lived and pass within few days. When somebody is affected by
depression, it interferes with personal, social and occupational aspects of
life. Depression is a serious medical condition which requires treatment to
avoid suffering to the person and related significant others.
Though depression is a common illness, percentage of people
receiving treatment is extremely low. Stigma related to mental health issues
and lack of awareness about depression are the most common causes for this. Many
people do not even know that emotional problems can be a part of a disorder and
treatment is possible for the same.
Common symptoms in depression:
- Sadness of mood
- Decreased interest in activities that were previously pleasurable
- Easy irritability
- Lack of energy or lethargy and easily getting tired
- Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness
- Difficulty in concentration
- Difficulty in making decisions
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
- Pain such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain which is often unexplained or out of proportion to the physical component
- Death wish or ideas of ending one's life
Types
There are several forms of depression. Unipolar depression
and Bipolar depression are the two most prominent differentiation. Apart from
this, following are various disorders related to depression.
Major depressive
disorder
Major depressive disorder, also known as MDD is the severe
form of depression. The symptoms are constant, ranging from moderate to severe
and the duration should be at least for 14 days which causes significant impairment in person’s
personal, social and occupational life.
Psychotic depression
It is also a severe form of depression in which depressive
symptoms are accompanied by psychotic symptoms like suspiciousness,
fearfulness,hearing of voices and other psychotic symptoms.Often
individuals with psychotic depression are misdiagnosed as a schizophrenics.
Mixed anxiety depressive disorder
When person has symptoms of depression as well as symptoms
of an anxiety disorder it is called Mixed anxiety depressive disorder.
Post partum
depression
Baby blues is
comparatively milder form of post partum depression which is short lived and
not severe. Some women suffer from a severe form of the “baby blues".
Postpartum depression is a longer lasting and more serious depression which
is associated with hormonal changes
during pregnancy and delivery. Postpartum depression usually develops soon
after delivery,but it may develop within 6 months of delivery.It usually clears
before baby’s first birthday but when severe and untreated may affect mother’s
health as well as her capacity to take care of her baby. With depressive
symptoms, excessive worry regarding baby ‘s health is the key hallmark of post
partum depression.
Agitated depression
Mostly an illness of geriatric (elderly) age group in which
restlessness and aggression are prominent with other symptoms of
depression.Person is easily irritable, shouting and may be pacing around
frequently.
Medications induced depression
Many drugs also can cause depression.Drugs like methyldopa, betablockers, clonidine,thiazide diuretics,typical antipsychotics,digitalis,anticancer
drugs, baclofen,domperidone, metoclopramide,certain antibiotics like ethambutol sulfonamides,steroids,oral
contraceptive pills may be the cause of depression in some cases.
Depression due to general medical condition
Depression symptoms are found in 12 to 36 % of people with a
general medical condition and vary according to the medical condition. Ongoing
depression with any medical condition may affect a person’s ability to deal
with that condition and ultimately the outcome.
Dysthymia
Dysthymia is a chronic low-grade depression.Person feel
mildly or moderately depressed, although there are brief periods of normal
mood. The symptoms of dysthymia are not as severe as the symptoms of major
depression, but they last at least for two years.When somebody experiences
major depressive episodes on top of dysthymia, the condition is known as
“Double depression.” People suffering from dysthymia may feel like they have always been depressed Or may think that their continuous low mood
is “just the way they are.” Dysthymia is
also a treatable condition even if symptoms are there for very longer
period of time.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Some people have a tendency to get depressed in a particular season or months of the year,for example,in winter or in monsoon.This type of
depression is called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Seasonal affective disorder
is more common in cold climates than hot climates.Seasonal affective disorder
is treatable. Light therapy, a treatment that involves exposure to bright
artificial light,is also a good adjunctive treatment option for SAD.Many
experts believe that SAD is actually a variant of bipolar mood disorder and
mood stabilizers like lithium are better drugs for long term maintenance of
seasonal affective disorder.