Whats For Breakfast Start Thinking Food
Thinking about food or your first cup of coffee can be great motivation. If your stomach starts grumbling enough while youre forcing yourself to think about eggs, bacon, and French toast, youll be more likely to pull yourself up.
This doesnt always work, though, especially if youre experiencing a loss of appetite from depression. Still, know that eating something in the morning even if its just a slice of bread will help you get up.
Plus, if you take medications in the morning, its usually a good idea to have something in your stomach.
How Can I Help A Loved One Who Is Depressed
If someone you know has depression, help them see a health care provider or mental health professional. You also can:
- Offer support, understanding, patience, and encouragement.
- Invite them out for walks, outings, and other activities.
- Help them stick to their treatment plan, such as setting reminders to take prescribed medications.
- Make sure they have transportation to therapy appointments.
- Remind them that, with time and treatment, the depression will lift.
Take comments about suicide seriously, and report them to your loved ones health care provider or therapist. If they are in immediate distress or thinking about hurting themselves, call 911 for emergency services or go to the nearest hospital emergency room.
What To Do When You Feel Depressed
When feeling depressed, most people want to sit around the house and do nothing, but this can actually worsen depression. Knowing how to feel better when depressed involves learning about depression, knowing yourself and understanding what works for you.
The important thing to remember when trying to feel better is to make reasonable goals. Anything has the possibility of making you feel more depressed if you set an unrealistic goal. For example, exercising is positive, but setting the goal for yourself to run five miles a day might make you feel more depressed if that’s not something you’re able to accomplish. Small goals and small steps forward work best. You can always set bigger goals as you start to feel less depressed.
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So What Do You Do When You’re In An Unhappy Marriage And Depressed
Despite the futility, you’re feeling, your questions have merit. And doing the uncomfortable work of answering them could be the difference between saving your marriage and your health… and not.
The interconnectedness of being in an unhappy marriage and depression has research to back it up.
Each component marital dissatisfaction, depression, and anxiety can affect the other. And the task incumbent upon the suffering spouse is to figure out if one factor is giving rise to or exacerbating the other.
When youre unhappy in a relationship, you may be so aware of your emotional unrest that you dont realize the physical and mental unrest happening behind the scenes.
Understanding how an unhappy marriage affects you will clarify the relationship between marital dissatisfaction and depression.
Mentally, it can disrupt cognition, memory, and decision-making, and even increase your risk for dementia and Alzheimers.
And on an emotional level, it can increase your risk of depression and anxiety, making you vulnerable to negative emotions like anger.
Research on the effects of marital conflict on depression and functional impairment corroborates these mental and emotional effects, as well as risks to physical health.
Turn the tables and ask if being depressed can lead to unhappiness in your marriage, and the answer is another yes.
Despite anxiety having an influence, it is nowhere near as detrimental as depression.
What causes depression and marital dissatisfaction?
Should You Worry About Antidepressant Withdrawal
insomniaPsychiatric Times
More to the point, while you should slowly stop your antidepressant with the help of your doctor, antidepressants do not cause dependence and withdrawal like other substances. Unlike substances that are known to cause addiction, such as alcohol, opioids, and barbiturates, people don’t crave antidepressants. You dont get high from them, and they arent intentionally or compulsively overused. Serious reactions like the seizures and agitation that can follow sudden withdrawal from addictive substances are unheard of when these antidepressants are tapered gradually, note the authors of the Psychiatric Times report.
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Symptoms And Causes Of Depression
Symptoms of depression can be very different from person to person. However, as a general rule, if you are depressed you feel hopeless, sad and lacking interest in things that used to make you feel happy.
Depression symptoms are bad enough to interfere with work, social life and family life, and can persist for weeks or months.
Doctors describe depression in one of three ways, depending on how serious it is:
- mild depression it has some impact on daily life
- moderate depression it has a significant impact on your daily life
- severe depression this makes it nearly impossible to get through your life day to day
A few people with severe depression may have symptoms of psychotic depression.
Below is a list of depression symptoms it’s unlikely that one person would have all of them.
Depression And Suicide Risk
Depression usually does not lead to suicide ideation. But, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services, studies have shown that about two percent of people who have been treated for depression in an outpatient setting will die by suicide. If the treatment is inpatient, the number doubles to four percent. Men are more likely to die by suicide after depression than women. Find hotlines and organizations for support in our .
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How Do I Know If Im Sad Or Depressed
If youre sad because you lost your job, are going through a breakup, or lost someone in your life its certainly no fun, but its also pretty normal. Sadness, even extreme sadness, is a natural reaction to events like these. That said, regular sadness can also turn into depression. If the feelings dont get better over time, or if your mood starts to get in the way of your daily life, you might be developing a case of depression.
Physical changes can also affect your mood. Some examples include hormone changes due to puberty or menopause, or certain medical treatments or conditions. If you think you might be depressed, its a good idea to have a doctor review any medications youre taking and test your thyroid and other hormone levels.
If you still arent sure why youre feeling down, or if mental illness of any kind runs in your family, theres a decent chance youre experiencing depression. If you havent already done so, consider taking our free online depression test.
How Depression Can Affect Your Time At Uni
Being at university should be one of the most exciting times of your life. You will meet hundreds if not thousands of new people, and youll be forming some of the relationships you will have for the rest of your life. So, if youre not feeling yourself, its important to face this and get back to feeling yourself again so you can carry on with making joyful memories.
Did you know that depression can affect your levels of concentration and focus? This means that suffering from depression will make it much more difficult to take information in during your lectures and seminars. And, it probably makes joining in with discussions in class that little bit more challenging. Depression can also affect your memory. This isnt good news for students as you rely heavily on your memory for your studies, especially when its coming up to exam periods.
So, if you believe you are suffering from depression, dont delay addressing it until after your degree because you feel youre too busy to deal with it. Learning how to manage depression can be lengthy, and if it affects your studies, there is no better time than the present to start taking control of your mental health. Plus, university is one of the safest and most supportive environments you will be in.
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Common Causes And Risk Factors
Several factors can cause depression. Though depression may not have one single cause, experts recognize the following as possible risk factors:
- Genetics: Depression and other mood disorders can run in families, though family history alone does not mean a person will get depression.
- Life events: Major life changes and stressful events may trigger depression. These events include divorce, the death of a loved one, job loss, or financial problems.
- Hormonal changes: Research
This section looks at the different types of depression.
What Did We Learn About People Who Are Depressed
There were no differences in reaction times to the self-descriptors in the depressed and control groups, and they were similarly accurate about the vowel test too. However, depressed participants said that the negative adjectives described them far more often than the control subjects, and more often than not, the adjectives indicated that they did not like themselves.
Choosing a self-descriptor means that you have to match the word with an impression that you already have of yourself. This matching process involves brain regions at the front and back of the brain. Like a well-coordinated rowing team, these different regions in the brain must be flexible and coordinated so that this matching can occur. In the case of self-appraisal, activation at the front of the brain often moderates activation at the back of the brain
As researchers had expected, when depressed patients reflected on themselves, the brains front and back rowing teams were not coordinated. When the brain region at the back of the brain was activated by a self-descriptor, the front region overreacted when trying to control it. The greater the overreaction, the worse depressed people felt about themselves compared to control subjects.
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Other Causes Of Depression
There are a number of things that can lead to developing depression.
- Stressful events big changes in your life, like bereavement, the end of a relationship or the loss of a job, can be difficult to deal with. When these things happen, it’s important to keep seeing friends and family instead of trying to deal with problems alone this increases your risk of developing depression.
- Giving birth pregnancy and birth can make some people vulnerable to depression. Postnatal depression can happen as the result of physical changes, hormonal changes, and the responsibility of taking care of a new baby.
- Loneliness your risk of depression gets higher if you aren’t in contact or spending time with family and friends.
- Personality some personality traits can put you at a higher risk of developing depression. These include low-self esteem or a habit of criticising yourself too much. These personality traits can come from your genes, which you get from your parents, or they can be as a result of experiences in your early life.
- Family history it’s more likely for someone to develop depression if a family member, like a sibling or parent, has experienced it before.
Depression: How To Spot The Signs And Offer Support
Depression is often used to describe someone having a bad day, or experiencing short-term low mood. But its much more than that. Here, well take a look at the emotional, mental, and physical signs of depression so that you know what to look out for.
1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem every year. Even if youre experiencing good mental health, you may know or be supporting someone affected by a mental health condition. Depression is a common mental health disorder that affects people of all ages.
So what is depression? Too often, people say theyre depressed when they feel fed up, or when things in their lives arent going as well as theyd like them to. And equally often, after a few days, these feelings disappear.
Medically speaking, depression is when how you feel starts to make your life more difficult. Your low mood, or feelings of emptiness/disconnection, last more than a few weeks, or keep coming back.
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What Can You Do
If youre depressed, know that the unstable connection between the front and back regions of your brain is making you dislike yourself and disturbing your emotional control. Your brain has lost its flexibility and accuracy.
Thats why a relatively new treatment called self-system therapy has been shown to be so effective for depression. With this therapy, people who are depressed can achieve better control of their emotions. They learn to counteract their negative self-impressions. Unlike cognitive therapy, which focuses on reframing these negative ideas, SST doesnt focus on these negative ideas at all. Instead, it helps patients feel better by teaching them to focus on making good things happen by pursuing promotion goals that involve advancement, growth, and achievement. In fact, it is far more effective than cognitive therapy.
So, being aware that your brain distorts your self-impression in the first step in this therapy. Once you understand this, you can learn how to switch your attention to positive goals so that you can feel better about yourself again.
If you are depressed, look up SST or ask your healthcare provider about it. It may help restore emotional control and help you feel less depressed again.
About the Author
Srini Pillay, MD, Contributor
Information For Family Carers And Friends
You can get support if you are a carer, friend or family member of someone living with depression.
Being a carer might mean you can claim certain benefits that might help you and the person you care for. For more information, please see the Mental Health and Money Advice services website:www.mentalhealthandmoneyadvice.org/en/welfare-benefits/what-benefits-are-available-for-mental-health-carers/
You could also get in touch with carer support groups or sibling support groups. You can search for local groups in your area online or ask your GP.
You can ask your local authority for a carers assessment if you need more practical support to help care for someone.
As a carer you should be involved in decisions about care planning. There are rules about information sharing and confidentiality which may make it difficult for you to get all the information you need in some circumstances.
You can find out more information about:
How can I support the person that I care for?
You might find it easier to support someone with depression if you understand their symptoms, treatment and self-management skills. You can use this to support them to get help and stay well.
Below are some initial suggestions for providing practical day to day support to someone with depression.
You can find out more information about:
You can find more information about:
Website: www.web.ntw.nhs.uk/selfhelp/
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What Is Samhsa’s National Helpline
SAMHSAs National Helpline, , or TTY: is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.
Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.
Depression: What You Need To Know As You Age
If youre one of the more than 14.8 million American adults who experiences major depression, you may feel so bad that you cant get out of bed, be around the people you love or participate in activities that you usually enjoy. Actually, there are more than 50 different symptoms of major depression, ranging from the well-knowncrying and sadnessto those you might never associate with depression, such as anger, workaholism and back pain.
Depression is a disease that affects every aspect of a persons life, not just mood, says Johns Hopkins expert Andrew Angelino, M.D., Chair of Psychiatry at Howard County General Hospital. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second-leading cause of disability in the world, just behind cardiovascular disease.
People who are depressed are far more likely to have other chronic medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease, back problems, arthritis, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and to have worse outcomes. Untreated depression can even affect your immune response to some vaccines.
Depression is not just debilitating it can be deadly. An estimated one out of five people with depression will attempt suicide at some point.
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Whats The Difference Between Sadness And Depression
Whether youve lost a loved one, moved to a new place, or missed out on a job opportunity, there are plenty of stressful and upsetting events that can get you down. However, the difference between sadness and depression is that sadness usually passes with a little time, while depression is a mood disorder that can appear without any specific cause and last for two weeks or more.
Depression impacts almost every part of your life, interfering with how you think, feel, and go about your daily activities like sleeping, working, and socializing. Some common symptoms of depression include:
- Feeling empty
- Difficulty sleeping or sleeping more than normal
- Changes in appetite or weight
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Loss of interest in hobbies or activities
- Irritability or restlessness
- Aches and pains without clear physical causes
- Thoughts of death or suicide
To be diagnosed with depression, these symptoms must be present nearly all day, every day for at least two weeks.
Get Yourself Motivated With Routine
Dont rush yourself to get up and get ready and take all the pleasure out of the morning. You can also try using other forms of motivation to get up, like your phone.
Let yourself check your email or watch a cute animal video to start your day. Just to ensure that youre not staying on your phone all morning in bed, set a timer. Keep it around 15 minutes for phone time. Another option is to place your phone out of reach so you have to get up to use it.
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