How to Prevent Depression from Returning
Up till recently, we supposed that an event of depressive illness actually had a 50% lifetime risk of coming back. Some recent research shows that the underlying risk is perhaps much, much higher. Anyone who has suffered two or more incidents of depressive illness is 75% more likely to develop another bout of it. Having had three or multiple episodes of severe depressive illness makes it inevitable that further episodes plague you.
The brain actually learns to reiterate depression. As the depressive illness remains a stress-triggered break down within your brain's chemistry, it will involve some changes within the electrical pathways within the brain. The brain remains in a continuous learning curve, and it also learns inapt electrical patterns, like people who keep getting frequent epileptic seizures. But these are also assumptions. And some people assume that having prolonged and/or frequent episodes of severe depression trains the brain to easily let the illness come back and finally the brain can nearly spontaneously make depression to reoccur, even when there is a lack of major stresses. This phenomenon is technically known as “kindling”.
Drugs utilized for preventing additional episodes of seizure within people who’ve got epileptic seizures (also known as anticonvulsants), can prevent your brain from learning as well as repeating the irregular electrical patterns. Such anticonvulsant or anti-kindling drugs can prevent epileptic seizures successfully. Happily, they can also stop episodes of depression. Preventing the repetition of depressive episodes is not that hard, actually. There are some options which you might consider using. They are designed to stop the comeback of depressive conditions.
You could consider using longer term or imprecise antidepressants. This is regarded as an extremely helpful way to prevent depression from returning. It can bring along some great advantages, which your dosages of antidepressants could manipulate, when raised or lowered. Things depend a lot on what the level of side effects are. Longer term Lithium intake could help. Lithium comes with a potent effect when it comes to preventing relapses of mild or severe depression. It’s particularly valuable to help those who suffer from bipolar illnesses (manic depressive illnesses), if it is used to deal with progressively longer time periods of suffering. Longer term anticonvulsants are also known to be effective. The effectiveness of anticonvulsants to prevent repeated spans of depression isn’t yet totally established, though they are extremely useful with patients suffering from bipolar illnesses (manic depressive illnesses).
Consider using Cognitive Therapy (Interpersonal Therapy). Such techniques to deal with the hazardous stresses in life as well as early depressive symptoms can work if applied in a highly structured way. These have been already proven to work when it comes to preventing the return of mild or severe depressive illnesses. But it isn’t certain that these anti-depression techniques are able to stop the return of severe or mild depressive illnesses that are characterized by major biochemical imbalances.
You also need to steer clear of stress that has been rattling your life for too long. Depression happens to be one of the most stress-induced illnesses, and to steer clear of it, you need to avoid overloading your life with pressures and negative thoughts. This can significantly reduce the chances of the depressive illness coming back.
You also need to improve your existing relationships. This is the top protection you could ever have against getting a depressive illness when you are under stress. Ideally you should try to improve your relationship with your partner, so that you can feel emotionally supported. Actually, having a helpful social network of buddies and family members is a good thing if you want to keep depression away. See if you have somebody you could talk to regarding the ups and downs in your life.
Detecting the ‘homecoming’ of depressive illnesses at an early stage is important particularly when you haven’t been taking any kind of preventive medication on a long term basis. A helpful technique here is to write a sympathy filled letter to yourself when you are well and try to describe to yourself how well you are. Write about the symptoms that rattled you before when you got depressed. If you see the symptoms returning some years later, you might have totally forgotten what the initial warning signs were and this particular letter to yourself could perhaps put you on alert.
How to Overcome Depression and Save Yourself
You sometimes come across a number of folks especially adults who have lost any form of belief in themselves. For this reason they cannot actually take any kind of initiative in life. One of the main causes of this is depression. However, there could be a realization that can change your life forever if you are going through this condition. It is important to recognize in your mind that all life’s challenges emanate from our thoughts so what we think makes us who we are. Any fear or bad emotion that comes forth is not actually real.
There is the need to really reject the notion that you are a victim of unfortunate circumstances. The fact that life is difficult because of things that happened to you is false. Indeed one has to stop playing the victim and live life to the fullest no matter what. It is very much difficult for you to take responsibility for your life and yet be a depressed person.
You would not believe that you are strong enough to deal with any difficult circumstance that you come across. There is no reason for you to think that you are an unfortunate person and that you are a loser. Indeed you are a winner no matter what for the fact that you are alive. One crucial realization that must come to you is that the condition of depression is a choice. For this reason you would have to choose differently. This is the simplest way to overcome depression.
There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that one important thing about dealing with depression is your environment. If you happen to find yourself in an intimidating atmosphere, it is quite difficult to really get the best out of your situation. Moreover when there is so much pressure on your to deliver especially at the workplace you could face depression. Therefore you have to remain calm in any difficult situation you find yourself in.
Sometimes the best way to deal with this would be stay away from others and have some breathing exercises. You could also choose to mingle with others and share some informal jokes which make you feel at ease. Here you can get along with your close friends and colleagues who would boost your confidence to perform and deliver. It is important for you to be surrounded by people who love you and who are ready to help you. This would surely save your career and life in general.
How to Know You Have Depression
Depression is a condition that affects your entire body. When it sets in, it is able to change the way we communicate, sleep, eat and go about our everyday life. It is a condition that a lot of people have acquired and those who have never had it may see it as a form of laziness or weakness and even a lack of willpower. However this is not the case at all. This is a chemical imbalance that could be overcome if it is treated in the right way. One has to therefore recognize it first before it can be treated well.
One of the ways to recognize depression is to pinpoint the behavioral changes that occur in the person. These would reflect the negative emotions that the person is going through. Most sufferers spend less time interacting with people and more time isolated or alone. Others feel uncomfortable in social encounters. There could be some dramatic changes in eating habits. Others will experience a lack of sexual appetite. This is especially noticeable in those who are married. Anxiety with regards to personal situations is also common. It could be possible for people affected to neglect their hygiene or personal appearance as well as the cleanliness in the home.
Apart from these symptoms, changes in thought patterns often occur. Those who are at school or work may find it pretty difficult to focus and make decisions. There are many depression sufferers who report having difficulties in processing information and thus they have issues with their memory in the short term. It is not good to be overly critical with your ability at work or in school coupled with excessive guilt as these symptoms show that you are going through depression. In extreme cases people could have behaviors and thoughts that are self-destructive.
It is important to also note that those who have depression have changes in their physique. They may suffer from what we call chronic fatigue even in situations when they have a lot of sleep. They normally have insomnia. They have a tendency of not turning off their thoughts so they lie awake for hours without sleeping. There are others however who would rather sleep more than normal and could even spend most of their time in bed. These folks may also face body aches, back pain and severe headaches as they have depression.
Note these symptoms of depression and take action, if necessary.
How Alcohol Causes Depression
Depression is one of the many problems that people face today. It has been discovered that alcohol is one of the underlying causes of this condition. The feelings of unhappiness, sadness and hopelessness make life bleak. When you are suffering from this condition you cannot be at the top of your game. When you are tired, you would be experiencing a lack of interest in a whole lot of things. There are a lot of instances when depression can lead to anxiety. Alcohol may cause this condition.
Most people realise that alcohol is a depressant and that is why people should not drink when they feel down. This applies to those who are suffering from maniac depression also. A lot of studies have shown that specialists would normally diagnose wrongly about 65% of those who are depressed. This kind of depression from alcohol would begin from your body.
What happens is that the alcohol reduces the level of norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain. But these are chemicals that offer you very good feelings as well as helping you feel normal. The drugs that are anti-depressants are manufactured to stimulate the production of these chemicals as backup. After drinking lots of alcohol the production of brain chemicals is drastically reduced. It then takes a very long time before the chemicals are restored to their normal levels again.
The fact of the matter is that alcohol will certainly nullify the effects of the stress hormones in the body. It is for this reason that you may feel worse after drinking since there is a depression of your nervous system as well as the brain. It may also interest you to know that alcohol wipes out all vitamins in the body system after you have had a drinking session.
The lack of folic acid will lead to a general depression as there is an elimination of anti-oxidants. The latter are vital to our health since they fight toxins and free radicals that cause damage to the cells of the body. Alcohol can further stimulate a gene that is linked to depression and other kinds of mental problems. This then causes depression and other depressive episodes that originate from your physical body.
This therefore means that the best way to stay away from depression would be to completely stay away from alcohol. This will also bring other health benefits such as lower cholesterol and better heart health.
Homoeopathy for Treatment of Depression
There are many reasons why a person falls prey to depressive states. The most common symptoms that a person has during the primary stage of depression are anxiety, anger, and helplessness, and guilt, negative thoughts, lack of confidence, hopelessness and insomnia.
Though there are many medical treatments available, most of the antidepressant therapies show side effects in later stages of life. In order to treat depression naturally, one can look forward to the usage of homoeopathy medicine which offers excellent opportunity for individuals to overcome their depressive state without any side effects.
All medical drugs come with side effects and some antidepressant drugs can have serious effects on the immune system of a human being. Homoeopathy is considered to be the best naturally developed medicine which causes no side effects of any kinds. The first step for the person is to approach a reputed doctor. The doctor will determine the real cause of the state of depression. Performing few medical examinations will be helpful to understand the degree of depression. Apart from this, a blood test is also useful to check the vital nutrients that are present in the body.
Based on the results that are obtained from the medical examination, appropriate homoeopathic treatment will then be carried out considering all unique symptoms of the patient. The main advantages of the usage of homoeopathic medicine are the lack of side effects and also improvement in the overall health of the patient. Manufactured from naturally occurring medicinal plants, homoeopath remedies play a vital role in reducing the depressive state in a person. Apart from this, physical exercises will also be helpful for a person to increase their concentration levels and overcome the state of depression.
As there are many homoeopathic practitioners across the medical field, it is very important for the person to visit a reputed practitioner who will offer complete assistance. It is also very important that the patient provides complete details to the doctor, which will make it possible for them to provide an accurate treatment.
The recovery period depends on the patient's ability to fight back their current state of depression to get back to normalcy without any side effects. A balanced diet should also be planned. It should include all the essential nutrients for the body, which will also improve the overall health apart from suppressing the development of depression. Using different kinds of relaxation techniques should also help.
General Causes of Depression
Even with all the studies available for people to get information from, a lot of us view depression as a flaw of one’s personality. This is far from reality. Depression has been proven to be a medical condition and there are treatments available for it. The problem is that people will go to the relevant doctor only when they see it as a medical problem and not as a personality disorder. When it is treated as a personal flaw, going to the doctor is further seen as a lack of strength. So it is high time that people got out of their box and stopped treating the problem as a taboo.
There are a number of causes of depression and they are not the same for everyone. Everyone has a distinct personality and therefore the causes of depression are going to be different. There are some indications that can be used to determine that a person is suffering from depression but these indicators too are not the same for everyone.
This might come as a surprise to many people but depression can be a genetic problem as well. A number of studies on the matter have been conducted and published. They have proven that if someone in the family has suffered from depression, chances are that other family members and future generations are going to be prone to the problem as well. Therefore, if there is no other external reason that one can find and pin down to be the cause of depression then it is suggested that one looks at their family tree to see if any cases of depression existed.
Another very common cause of depression is morbidity. What this means in this discussion is that if an individual is suffering from some serious medical problem like cancer or kidney failure, then chances that the person will suffer from depression as well are very high. This is the reason why doctors keep a check on this factor in their patients with serious health problems.
In more sensitive people, some drastic change in their life can also cause depression. This change can be some tragedy but it is not limited to this type of situation only. At times some major negative form of change such as moving to a place that you hate, or losing a lot of money can also cause depression in individuals. Therefore, it is quite insensitive of people to treat this medical condition as a simple character flaw.
Depression in Teenagers
Depression can happen to anyone. There is no fixed age or gender associated with this medical problem. Children can suffer from depression as well as adults. The indicator by which to judge this is that they lose interest in the activities that they usually enjoy. In adults, there are a number of other factors which can indicate the fact that they are suffering from depression. The most dangerous form of depression is the one suffered by teenagers.
The reason why it is considered to be the most dangerous of all is because most of the time it goes unnoticed. Usually, the indicators that are used to determine whether a person is suffering from depression or not are ignored. They are viewed as general teenage behavior that is a part of the teenage life. The results of this ignorance are not that pretty and as the problem goes unnoticed, it just gets worse with time.
Teenagers are generally more sensitive to their surroundings compared to any other age group, due to the hormonal changes that they are going through. This is the reason why it is generally advised that parents deal with their teenage children in a very cautious and proper manner. Not doing this is only going to worsen the problem and not present them with any solutions.
The influence of bad company is a big cause of depression. The influence of bad company is going to result in substance abuse and an increase in alcohol use. All these are known to be depressants and their excessive use is going to result in depression. The users of these products should know this.
This is the reason why parents need to be very careful and need to be aware of what their children are doing. However, at the same time they need to ensure that they are not talking to their kids in a very pushy manner as this too is going to push them away. The need of the hour is that the teenagers trust their parents completely.
Instead of looking for support from outsiders they need to be comfortable enough with their parents to share everything with them. This is not just going to ensure that the parents are aware of what is happening in their lives but this is also going to help point out any issues in their initial stage, instead of them being discovered when it is too late. If you have a teenage child, you have to do your best to get along with them.
Depression in Our Society
Depression is a medical condition that needs to be treated as a medical problem and not as a flaw in people. People need to s