Depression Symptoms

Kathy Wilson helps people get their life unstuck. She uses a multi-faceted approach in which she and her clients utilize life coaching, spiritual consulting, vibrational healing, and teaching… whatever is in her client’s highest and best interest. She’s a Certified Professional Coach, spiritual teacher, Author of An Inner Journey: Living Your Life Purpose, Reiki Master, and vibrational healer. For information about her services, products, and classes, visit her websites: http://www.aninnerjourney.com – http://www.under-one-roof.net and http://www.warrior-priestess.com If you’re ready now to begin getting unstuck and begin living your life of purpose email her at kwilson@under-one-roof.net

Do you find yourself often irritable or angry, trapped in confusion, misery, uncertainty, unconfident, and hopeless that you feel that your life has no direction or your life isn’t worth living?

These feelings are emotional symptoms of depression. It is not as simple as having a bad day that disappears quickly, but continues to stay and interfere in your daily life. Emotional symptoms co-exist with physical symptoms too.

Physical symptoms of depression are sometimes interpreted as symptoms of physical illness although they’re not, and it is necessary to be aware and know how to deal with it.

These changes in your body may include:

• Headaches, back pain and chest pain are common in people with depression.

• Digestive problems – sluggish movement of intestines that results to fullness of the stomach, dyspepsia and constipation may be experienced.

• Sleep disturbance – trouble going to sleep (insomia) or frequently waking up in the middle of the night, early-morning awakening and unable to sleep again or sometimes oversleeping.

• Exhaustion and fatigue- you easily get tired or cannot perform even the simplest task.

• Change in appetite or weight – loss of appetite resulting to weight loss or craves for sweet, rich foods and overeats therefore gains weight.

• Sexual dysfunction- women may have a problem such as irregular menstrual period and loss of interest in sex and erectile impotence for men.

If you experienced or have been experiencing these physical symptoms, discuss this with your doctor for proper treatment and teach you how to cope better.

Above all, help yourself. Think positively. Try to find out your special skills or talents and then develop them. Set up priorities and focus on your role in life. Depression affects not only you, but also those who love you.

Being depressed or feeling sad from time to time is a natural reaction of humans when they experience something traumatic, like the loss of a loved one, loss of job, domestic violence, divorce, stress, financial problems, social failures and others.

However, sometimes these feelings can get out of hand and the person suffering from manic depression can be a danger to others and to him or herself.

Manic depressive illness is also called bipolar mood disorder. The person suffering from one may switch moods from depression and mania frequently. You probably know about and refer to it as mood swings.

This illness can be classified as mild, moderate and severe. People with this kind of illness should be treated immediately by consulting a psychiatrist and family and friends should fully support the person suffering from the said illness.

In order to know if the person has a manic depressive illness or bipolar mood disorder, here are examples of signs and symptoms you should watch out for:

Feelings:

• Frequently feels sad
• Loss of interest in spending time with family or friends
• Pessimistic
• Loss of interest in sex
• Loss of interest in having fun or do activities that usually makes him or her happy
• Anxiety attacks
• Always worried about something

Thoughts:

• Loss of self-esteem
• Obsessed with a certain thought
• Hearing voices or hallucinating
• Having strange ideas or delusions
• Thoughts of suicide or homicide
• Slowed thinking

Physical:

• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Loss of energy
• Cravings for sweets
• Frequent attacks of headaches and muscle aches
• Restlessness

Behaviors:

• Slowed speech and movement
• Loss of interest with social contact
• Excessive use of alcohol and drugs
• Cries easily

These are the symptoms of depression. In mania, however, it is very different. You may notice that they will suddenly be happy. They may have high self-esteem, increase in creativity, and decreased need for sleep.

However, there will be times that he or she will overreact with the slightest thing happening, having the urge of destroying properties, and will have a hostile attitude.

These feelings will cycle frequently. You will notice that on one day he or she will be depressed and on the other he or she will be extremely happy and goes back to depression after a day or two.

This illness can be life threatening for him or her and to other person.

Not treating this illness will result in increased severity over the years and manic depression simptoms ‘ll worst.

In about 1 year, roughly 20 million Americans or about 10 percent of the American population will be afflicted by depression. This results to a severe hamper to their ability to function well and will further result to high economic damages, but the emotional damages are catastrophically higher.

And because most of the depressed population doesn’t seek help or has failed to diagnose the disorder, some of them will progress on to clinical or major depression.

This hinders a person’s ability to work, study, eat, sleep and enjoy activities that are usually pleasurable to them before being stricken with major depression.

Therefore it is essential that major depression symptoms be detected and noticed so that professional help and treatment be administered to stop the depressive disorder and allow a person to function normally and enjoy life.

Major depression symptoms:

• Continuous Sad, depressed and anxious emotion felt
• Always negative, hopeless, guilt, feeling worthless and helpless
• Loss of interest in sex and other favorite recreational activities
• Over fatigue, slow and has no energy
• Finds difficulty in concentrating, making decisions and remembering events
• Insomnia or wakes up early
• Has low appetite with significant weight loss or overeating with significant weigh gain
• Irritable and restless
• Recurring physical symptoms like headaches, chronic pain and digestive problems

Some of the symptoms listed above may not happen with some people with major depression. But having 2 or more is already enough for a person to be diagnosed with major depression.

The term bipolar is adequate as it is in regards to the two opposite poles of emotions a person with bipolar depression feels. This is the depressed phase and the manic phase.

The depressed phase is where the usual symptoms of depression are seen. In the manic phase, a bipolar depressed person will feel the exact opposite. In this phase the person will feel over ecstatic, euphoric and hyperactive.

The frequency of mood swings varies from one bipolar depressed person to another. Some would have frequent mood swings while some would only experience a swing once or twice in their lifetime.

Bipolar Depression Symptom

The depressed phase is the more dominant phase in these cyclic symptoms. A patient need have a recurring manic phase to be diagnosed with Bipolar Depression, if he or she exhibits a number of the manic symptoms twice or thrice in a lifetime; he or she is a bipolar depression afflicted person.

Depressive Phase Symptoms:

Social Withdrawal
Suicidal Tendencies
Unable to feel happiness
Over Fatigued
No control over emotions
Cries easily without reason
Head pains

Manic Phase Symptoms:

Overly ecstatic
Hyperactive
Insomniac
Racing ideas and Speedy thoughts
Over Spending
Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Having bipolar depression can get dangerous if left untreated. Not only to the person afflicted with the disorder but also to the people around him or her. Be sure to notice any of the mentioned above bipolar depression symptom so that immediate treatment can be given to halt bipolar depression in its tracks.

With about thirty to forty percent of all people diagnosed with depression, atypical depression is the most common subtype of depression in outpatients that inflicts the depressed population.

Unlike the more sever cases of depression, atypical depression allows an inflicted person to have mood reactivity. They can sometimes react to a positive event or situation.

Atypical depression also has a high chance in treatment. They can be easily treated especially if an atypical depression symptom is detected early and treatment is done immediately.

That is why it is imperative that an atypical depression symptom should be learned and known to be easily identified. If you notice at least two or four of the following Atypical depression symptoms coupled with depression, then it is best to have the person be checked-up by a specialist in mental disorders;

Atypical depression symptoms:

· Mood reactivity – A depressed person’s mood actually brightens up when a positive situation happens or is expected to happen.
· Hypersomnia – oversleeps, unlike in the melancholic subtype of depression where the person doesn’t sleep at all.
· Over-eating – there is significant weight increase.
· Leaden paralysis – feeling heavy, leaden in legs and arm.

It should be noted that an atypical depression symptom could be detected at a young age because it usually happens earlier, teenage period, than most forms of depression.

Also, atypical depression mostly happens to women, as they represent roughly sixty five to seventy percent of patients with this subtype of depression.

What is depression postpartum?

Depression postpartum is known as perinatal depression. Depression can affect women during or after pregnancy – even a year later -. The exact number of women with depression during this time is unknown. But researchers believe that depression is one of the most common complications during and after pregnancy. Often, the depression is not recognized or treated, because some normal pregnancy changes cause similar symptoms and are happening at the same time. Tiredness, problems sleeping, stronger emotional reactions, and changes in body weight may occur during pregnancy and after pregnancy. But these symptoms may also be signs of depression.

What causes depression postpartum?

Generally, depression is a disease only dependent of each patient. Depression Postpartum is characterized for hormone changes or a stressful life event, for example: death in the family, can cause changes in the woman brain. Often depression is a disease present in a lot of families.

During Pregnancy, some factors may help woman’s chances of develop depression, such as:

Family history of mental illness.

Anxiety about the fetus.

Young mother’s age.

Marital or financial problems.

There are external factors that might help women to develop a depression:

Feeling tired, because not enough rest during night.

Feeling overwhelmed with a new member in the family, or another baby.

Feeling stress in work and with home routines, no matter what.

Sometimes women feel fat, for this reason they can loss control of theirselves.

After Pregnancy:

Usually women have important change in their hormones. While pregnancy, woman’s hormone increase greatly, for example estrogen and progesterone. On the other hand, after childbirth, exactly 24 hours later, all hormones rapidly drops back down to normal levels. Last researches; discovered that changes in hormone levels may lead to depression, just as smaller changes in hormones can affect a woman’s moods before she gets her menstrual period.

What is Mifepristone?:

Mifepristone is too known as RU-486, this drug is ussualy used for abortion; on the other hand, Mifepristone is use too as anticancer drug. Last researches have discovered that Mifepristone is used by people with pshychotic depression as well- there are people that suffer a deep mental disorder, often the main symptoms are; pain, paranoia and hallucations, thus psychotic depression involves body, mood, and thoughts – because, antidepressant medications usually are ineffective for those patients, and combining antidepressants with antipsychotic drugs improve symptoms but for only about 60 percent of them.

How Mifepristone works?:

High levels of the steroidal hormone cortisol cause the extreme symptoms of psychotic depression. The excess hormone results from an overactive group of glands called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, thus psychiatrists believe electroconvulsive therapy works by resetting this axis, returning it to a normal state. Mifepristone blocks one of the cortisol receptors and also may reset the axis, since improvements persisted for patients.

The bottom line, according to last researches, mifepristone appeared to lower levels of cortisol – a stress hormone that has been linked to psychotic depression – . Psychiatrists had checked in their patients – in weeks with mifepristone treatment – , it helps them to overcome the danger – of psychotic depression – therefore, they can return to normal medication, and it might save many people lifes, because people with psychotic depression have higher level risks for suicide than people with other depressive diseases.

Do not forget that usually psychiatrists recommend tmifepristone must not to be used as a treatment for chronic manic depression, because mifepristone might bring them side effects; in these cases it is advisable on the role of cortisol in depressive behaviour.

Valium is one of the most widely prescribed medications in the nation-but many people suffering from anxiety disorders would reap huge benefits from giving natural remedies a try. Alternatives to prescription drugs can help you to sidestep common side effects as well as the terrible withdrawal symptoms that can occur should you forget to refill an anti-anxiety med in time. For those already taking a number of medicines for other conditions, a natural treatment may be the only feasible option.

Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on finding unhealthy thought and behavioral patterns and replacing them with more constructive methods of thinking and acting. In CBT, the psychologist or counselor guides the client or group of clients in learning to deal with stressful situations and to refrain from anxiety-triggering thoughts.

The Mind-Body Connection

The ancient practices of yoga and tai chi dominate today’s fitness scene, but are sometimes overlooked as a remedy for anxiety and related conditions like depression. Yoga and tai chi emphasize a mind-body connection, soothing both the psychological and physical discomfort associated with anxiety. Meditation promotes relaxation and teaches to take control of your thoughts, allowing you to react with calm and clarity to situations that would have once provoked an anxiety attack.

Some other promising natural treatments for anxiety include:

- Biofeedback

-Hypnosis or self-hypnosis

- Massage therapy

- Shiatsu

- Tai chi

Exercise

Reducing anxiety could be as simple as adding a morning jog to your routine or joining a strength-training class at your local gym. Exercise stimulates the release of chemicals in the brain called endorphins, which elevate mood, mental clarity and the sense of well-being. The rush of endorphins is instantaneous, and after just a few weeks of regular exercise feelings of tension and stress can be drastically reduced.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy-the use of essential oils to treat and wide array of symptoms-is enjoying a surge of popularity, and many people have found it successful in easing their anxiety. Oil candles come to mind first when aromatherapy is mentioned, but oil massages and scented baths are also employed to treat anxiety as well as insomnia and depression. Aromatherapy is definitely worth giving a try before resorting to expensive and potentially dangerous drugs.

If you’re ready to experiment with aromatherapy, look for the following oils:

- Bergamot

- Cypress

- Geranium

- Jasmine

- Lavender

- Neroli

- Orange

- Patchouli

- Rose

- Sandalwood

- Ylang-ylang

Flower Power

Chamomile, a flower reminiscent of the daisy, has been used medicinally since ancient times throughout Asia and Europe. Chamomile tea has been long been a trusted remedy for insomnia and anxiety. Some people do report adverse reactions to chamomile so people with allergies or women who are pregnant or nursing should avoid this plant.

Valeriana officinalis, or Valerian root, is known for its calming properties which can help soothe mild anxiety. The herb is available in teas, capsules, or liquid. It is not recommended for indefinite use but can be taken safely for several months. Passionflower is also used with success in treating anxiety. Passionflower can interact with certain prescription medications so check with your pharmacist before you begin taking this herb.

Any treatment regimen should be begun only with the blessing of your doctor and needs time to take effect. Prescription meds for anxiety like Effexor need weeks to take effect-so give your alternative method at least an equal grace period. If you get impatient over a perceived lack of results, you’ll l only grow more anxious, which would of course completely defeat the purpose of your endeavors-so give it time and be consistent.

Brent Crouch is the owner of Blogrepreneur.com and the creator of AnxietyAttackEtc.com.He had dedicated this site for providing free anxiety attack information.

Always feeling under the weather? Always not in the mood to be around others and have a good time? If you’re suffering from prolonged sadness for quite some time now, you should face these bouts of depression and get yourself diagnosed by a psychiatrist, they’re doctors who can actually help you out with your problem. Here are 10 Things You Should Know About Depression.

1. In the US alone, depression affects an approximate of 10 million citizens every year. An estimation of 1 out of 4 adults is said to have experienced depression throughout their existence. When it comes to treating depressed women, antidepressants and psychotherapy are commonly used – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs to be particular. Both of these methods can effectively deal with mild to moderate depression.

2. Genuine depression is more than a mood. It’s a mental illness brought on by a physical cause, a psychological cause, or both. Major depression is an extreme condition where there is no interest in activities of daily life, like eating, personal hygiene…even getting out of bed, and may be accompanied by attempts at suicide. When it’s that extreme, psychiatric care and medication are almost always required. Chances are, someone suffering from major depression would not be interested in reading this article or taking any actions to recover. So this article is written for and to those less extreme cases, where you know something is wrong and want to find some things you can do to aid in recovery.

3. Anxiety depression is actually characterized by all sorts of irregularities and erratic behavior from the person who is suffering from it, this is usually due to certain stress triggers that may tend to easily cause a person undue jitters and stress. Also, a lot of people who tend to get easily nervous over stressful activities are actually prone to having anxiety depression; it’s just a matter of being strong-willed when it comes to facing difficult and stress-prone activities. It may be pretty hard to overcome at first, but trying to be calm and cool in times of extreme pressure is what’ll actually save your mental health from going totally downward spiral.

4. Clinical depression or as some might call as ‘major’ depression, is actually the medical term for depression. Actually clinical depression is more of a disorder rather than an illness since it basically covers only those who are suffering from symptoms related to depression. Clinical depression is how doctors usually refer to “depression” when giving a diagnose of their patient. It’s basically just a medical term.

5. There’s a wide variety of anti-depressant depression medications available to help treat those who are suffering from depressive disorders. The more popular ones are those that are of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs variant then there are the tricyclics while the other popular variant is the monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAOIs. These depression medications (the SSRIs variant as well as the other newer depression medication available in the market) actually to be a much safer alternative than the tricyclics, since they have fewer side-effects as opposed to the tricyclics depression medication variant.

6. Manic depression or Bi polar manic depression is a serious medical condition that causes alterations in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Unlike the typical mood swings a normal person experiences, the symptoms of bi polar manic depression are much more severe. It often attacks when a person experiences an unusually great deal of stress, whether from work, school or family. Research also suggest that Bi polar manic depression could be hereditary, or that there may be a physical problem with the brain systems that control our mood. For women, it can also be triggered by childbirth or during menopause.

7. The majority people with depression never look for help, although the majority will react to treatment. Treating depression is above all important because it affects you, your family, and your work. Some people with depression try to harm themselves in the false belief that their feeling will never changes.

8. By eating the right, you can boost your brain chemicals and fight off the effects of depression. Extreme sugar levels can also cause brain cells to die and the chemicals to decrease production, once again allowing depression to set in. When people get depressed, their appetite is also affected and they eat too much or not enough. Proper diet can help you maintain not only your weight, but also keep depression away.

9. Antidepressants prescribed for depression work by slowing down the absorption of neurotransmitters in the brain. These chemicals are what help the brain function normally and they are directly involved in influencing a person’s mood, appetite, concentration, sleeping, and pain receptors. The medication restores the chemical balance in the brain and eases the symptoms the patient is suffering from.

10. Depression and its normal symptoms should not be ignored. It is an abnormal emotional state that can be introduced by severe sadness, despair and discouragement. It might even lead to a lamentable outcome. However, treating it can be done in many ways.

My name is David and I am a freak of lists. That’s why I build the 10 about site. If you want to learn more “10 things you should know” about different topics just come to 10about.info.