BRIEF DEPRESSION LIKBEZ

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

One of the main regulators of human behavior are emotions (from the Latin emovero (to excite, excite). They constitute the main signaling system of the body, being indicators that something worries us, prompts us to react - to approach, interact, move away or avoid … And when this system fails, it has dire consequences.

The most common and severe emotional spectrum disorders are depressive disorders.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The diagnosis of depression has three characteristics:

* Decreased motor activity

* Impaired thinking

* Loss of the ability to experience joyful feelings (anhedonia).

Thus, if a person began to leave home less often for no apparent reason, he constantly feels severe fatigue, he is no longer pleased with the usual activities and communication with loved ones, it has become difficult to solve current tasks and do the usual work, it is worth paying attention to this and seeking advice to a specialist.

Most often, depression is accompanied by low self-esteem, self-accusations and constant self-flagellation, lack of sexual desire and attempts to alleviate their condition with alcohol and drugs.

In a state of depression, a person begins to feel worthless and thoughts of self-accusatory content appear. “I can’t do anything; my actions don't make sense; everything I do is useless."

The perception of most events takes on a negative connotation: "The boss returned my report for revision, he wants to fire me", "My wife left me, I can never be happy in a relationship", "The child got a deuce again, I am a terrible mother." Their own perspectives in depression are beginning to be seen in black.

Thus, it becomes impossible for a person to rely on himself, on loved ones, as well as make plans for the future. And the more he thinks about it, the deeper he sinks into his gloomy state.

In everyday social conversations, you can hear what depression is called a common mood swings, or the natural reaction of sadness to an event that could be upsetting. “I didn't want to go out on the weekend. My boyfriend didn’t call me and I was depressed”- this is an excerpt from a conversation on the phone of a girl in a cafe.

If "the rain fell and passed, the sun is in the whole world" - fortunately, this is not depression, the real disturbance does not go away in a few days.

Depression can last from several months to several years and has a negative impact on communication with people, work and school. People in a depressed state lose the motivation to create or learn something. And in some cases, uncontrolled aggression appears on others. And we need the help of a specialist to see the impending signs of severe depression under the “spoiled character”.

According to statistics, it is known that about 15% of the world's population suffers from depression, a third of which are women. In families where mothers suffer from a depressive disorder, children cannot receive the desired warmth and support, since the psychological state of the mother is so difficult that emotional empathy for the child becomes inaccessible to her. And the child can develop "emotional starvation", or, scientifically, deprivation. In such cases, children begin to withdraw into themselves, their academic performance declines, and it is also difficult for them to communicate with friends. In preschool children, speech development slows down, appetite and sleep are disturbed. A difficult mother's emotional state can be aggravated by feelings of guilt and feeling like a “bad mom”. In order to somehow get rid of this oppressive experience, the mother can begin to intensively take care of the child in the ways possible for her. Since feelings are inaccessible to her, care is manifested either in excessive control (overprotection), or in attempts to appease the child, fulfilling all his requirements (connivance). It is clear that any of these extremes cannot replace full-fledged communication between the child and the mother.

In the environment of a person with such a disorder, alas, in most cases it is also difficult to find understanding. Modern life requires a high level of activity, and it is considered unacceptable to be sick, and even more so, to “mope”. Colleagues can sympathize, but not for long. A person begins to listen to advice "to cheer up", "to give up on problems", he is encouraged to think about those who are much worse due to various life circumstances, but for some reason the depressed person is clearly not becoming happier from these advice. And then acquaintances and colleagues begin to distance themselves from such a person, look with bewilderment, and even with condemnation.

And it is not always possible to find understanding at home. “My mom is an old school man. She is only angry with all my complaints and says that I am weak-willed, that I need to work harder or give birth to the next child so that the "nonsense will be kicked out." (Alevtina, 34 years old).

Therefore, people suffering from a depressive disorder try to cope with their condition on their own and seek help only when the depressive state does not allow them to work, results in serious illness or suicidal thoughts.

PSYCHIATRIC MODEL

According to modern trends, in psychiatry, the causes of depression are divided into internal (endogenous) and external (exogenous). At the same time, internal etiological factors can be associated with both a genetic predisposition and mental characteristics (features of the psychological development of a personality).

Exogenous causes of depression can be (depression signs):

* Loss of a loved one;

* Moving, abrupt change of environment, adaptation to new conditions;

* Long debilitating illness;

* Childhood trauma of the psyche;

You can indicate other reasons related to the rhythm and style of life:

* Constant loads for a long time, without the ability to relieve stress and relax;

* Personal and household disorder;

* Workaholism;

* Seasonal phenomena - lack of light and heat in late autumn and winter, spring vitamin deficiency;

* Tense situation in the family or at work;

* Internal disagreement with the requirements of the environment;

* Age crises.

TYPES AND CLASSIFICATION

In the classification of depressions, common in Russian psychology and psychiatry, it is customary to distinguish simple and complex (with a severe course and requiring serious drug treatment) depression - neurotic and psychotic.

Neurotic depressions include: anxious-agitated depression, apathy-abulic, reactive and other types of depressive syndromes.

- Anxiety-agitated depression is characterized by a combination of feelings of longing for the past and anxiety about the future. In most cases, it occurs in middle-aged and older people, being one of the manifestations of age-related crises. Unfortunately, such forms of the disease in society are often perceived as "spoiled character", further aggravating the patient's condition. Statements like “before, the sausage was tastier, and people are kinder,” typical of people suffering from this type of depression. There is often talk of missed opportunities, the future is seen in dark colors, fears of loss, death or divorce are heard. At the same time, there may be no objective reasons for such anxiety.

- APATIC-ABULIC depression. Depression in this form is described in the clinic as "a deficit of impulses with a drop in vitality." An illustration can be the words of Marya Iskussnitsa: "What will, what bondage - all the same, all the same."Apathetic depression can occur during pregnancy, shortly after childbirth, or in cases of severe illness. With this type of depression, a person can continue to go to work and perform other usual actions, but only out of necessity, without an inner desire, being in a “frostbitten” state or as if “behind glass”. It is impossible to overcome laziness and apathy on your own, since a suffering person often does not see the need for struggle and does not want to make efforts to heal himself. For apathetic depression, suicidal thoughts and attempts by the patient to suicide themselves are usually not characteristic.

- REACTIVE depression is the patient's reaction to crisis or traumatic events occurring in his life. Such events include divorces, participation in emergencies, experienced violence, financial bankruptcy, death of loved ones. In this case, a person can accurately indicate the cause and time of the onset of his severe emotional state.

- DISCOVERED depression. It happens that a person goes to doctors of different profiles for a long time with complaints of pain and discomfort in different organs. The card is filled with various diagnoses from vegetative-vascular dystonia to gastrointestinal diseases or hormonal disorders. Treatment is prescribed, the symptoms go away, but after a short time, new complaints appear, and everything starts all over again. It happens that doctors do not find a reason for complaints, cannot diagnose and identify the cause of the disease, and the patient visits various clinical institutions for months.

Disguised or latent depression can be hidden under the somatic symptoms. At the same time, signs of low mood, as a rule, may not be noticed by the person himself and others.

PSYCHOTIC depression is a more severe affective disorder in which, in addition to typical depressive symptoms, signs of psychosis are observed, such as hallucinations (for example, voices scourging and accusing a person), delusional ideas, baseless fears and multiple deployed phobias. In such a state, reality testing is sharply violated in a person: strange and illogical ideas appear. For example, there may be confidence that a terrible divine punishment awaits him due to his complete insignificance. Some people are not able to get out of bed all day long, do not take care of themselves, the house and the children at all. If, with a neurotic version of depression, a person can somehow be distracted, then here his gloomy thoughts become his obsessive companions. He does not know the reasons for such a grave condition. The condition is aggravated by a feeling of shame and guilt for oneself and one's thoughts. Realizing his own discrepancy, a person stops communicating with others in order to hide these experiences.

The danger of psychotic depression also lies in the fact that after its first episode, the risk of bipolar disorder, or manic-depressive psychosis, increases. It is a severe affective disorder in which episodes of mania (high, euphoric mood) and depression alternate. The main symptom of this disease is a change in mood for no apparent reason, regardless of external factors. Everyone can be in a bad mood from time to time when faced with difficult situations, and feel joy when something good happens. This is not the case for bipolar disorder. TIR is a complex condition in which mania leads to insomnia, inadequate to euphoric mood elevation and a sense of omnipotence, which can last for several days and be further complicated by hallucinations, nervous breakdowns, disorientation and paranoia. Mood swings from severe depression to manic behavior can last from hours to years. This disease is also characterized by a severe impairment of critical thinking. It becomes difficult for a person to perceive the world and function in society. This type of depression requires hospitalizations (often repeated) for serious medical treatment.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL

As for the psychological prerequisites for depression, psychologists identify a number of needs, the satisfaction of which is a prerequisite for a person's psychological comfort. Depression is a signal that the need for affection and maintaining close relationships is not satisfied. This may be due to the real loss of an important person, which is very difficult to come to terms with. In the case of a “burdened loss”, for example, in a situation of divorce, the loss is not lived through because of the hope of reunification, and in the event of the death of a loved one, the normal process of grieving is “inhibited” because of a conflict relationship with this person or the tragic circumstances of his sudden death, - in any case, sadness cannot be consciously lived and accepted and "turns" into a somatic symptom or neurosis.

Another psychological prerequisite for the emergence of depression is the prohibition in the family for the manifestation of certain feelings. Depression in society is often mistaken for a manifestation of sadness, but in translation the term "depression" means "depression", which very accurately reflects the essence of this disorder - in order to avoid painful experiences or feelings that are difficult to cope with, the entire emotional spectrum is suppressed, including experiences as positive and sharply negative ones. Sadness and sadness are living experiences that convey the meaning of a certain situation, while in depression, a person rather feels the inner deadness and meaninglessness of what is happening.

Some parents feel anxious when their child is sad or upset, so they only encourage calm or joyful behavior. And in a situation where it is necessary to mourn something and let go, to understand what really upset you, the growing up child gets confused in his experiences, they scare him. He tries to distract himself from them or deny, but the internal tension builds up and one day "pours out" into the first symptoms. In addition, a person who knows how to recognize and express their sadness has hope for the support and help of other people, unlike a person who is depressed.

Depression is designed to encourage the people around them to show increased care and attention to the sufferer, but it does not contribute to a full-fledged relationship, therefore it does not bring the desired satisfaction and reassurance, the person experiences melancholy and anxiety.

Difficulty expressing feelings on the aggressive spectrum is also a hallmark of many people with depressive disorders. Not taught in childhood a "healthy" expression of aggression in order to stand up for themselves, to feel the right to defend their borders and win their "place in the sun", a depressed person turns aggression against himself in order to control it and protect relationships with other people, as it seems to him yourself, from destruction. But in reality, this turns into the fact that the vitality of a person drops sharply (so much energy is spent on suppressing feelings!), He does not know his needs and does not feel boundaries, remains in the position of a victim, feels constantly worthless and guilty - restrained and unconscious aggression destroys him from within, turning against himself.

One of the therapeutic strategies for dealing with depression is to help you become aware and safely express your feelings before they transform into auto-aggression and psychosomatics.

There are techniques and techniques that allow you to give space and find a way to express any experience, including the experience of the aggressive spectrum. Any feeling can be experienced if you have the courage to experience it (A. Mokhovikov). As a result of such difficult but necessary work - and depression is by no means to be ignored - vital resources are freed up to create qualitatively new relationships with other people and, above all, with oneself, in which there will be no place for depression.