DEPRESSION. HOW TO DIFFERENCE FROM LAZY AND LAZY HANDRA. SYMPTOMS

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

"Depression is just a bad mood, it happens to everyone, just pull yourself together!"

If you have ever encountered symptoms of clinical depression, then this statement will cause you to resent and disagree, to say the least. Most likely, you have had to deal with the devaluation of your difficult and painful experiences.

And the phrases of “saving people” of the type: “everyone has it,” “you get it from idleness,” “get down to business in the end,” “stop it, everything will be fine,” do not really help, right?

Personal advice may not be appropriate - the key to one lock may not work to another:

"just pull yourself together", "endure it will pass", "go in for sports", "load up on work", "it is not easy for everyone, this is normal", "drink vitamins / supplements", "drink a sedative, everything will pass".

Sometimes the ignorant indulgence of counselors is even shocking, who cannot understand that they are not saying anything new, and most likely they do not surpass the interlocutor in intelligence, and consider themselves smarter than the whole field of evidence-based medicine.

The question of depression arises when the suffering persists, despite all the logical attempts to correct the situation in the ways indicated above. Melancholy, pain, hopeless joylessness, apathy and loss of strength do not go away despite the workload, work, sports, vitamins, hobbies and do not begin to please. And the loss of strength is only aggravated - there is no energy to do anything, and it does not appear if you overcome yourself.

Such advice only aggravates the chasm of misunderstanding, provokes feelings of inferiority and pushes towards isolation, which intensifies the development of symptoms.

The fact is that it is extremely difficult for an average person to understand that sometimes depression turns out to be a full-fledged disease, with serious physiological disorders. A disease that must be treated, we quite often confuse clinical depression with an ordinary blues, laziness, weak character, a reaction of fear of everyday difficulties, whining in order to attract attention. Yes, these qualities are good breeding grounds for this disorder, but there is a certain invisible boundary. Therefore, few people take seriously the manifestations of this disorder. And even people suffering from this ailment, due to their ignorance, rarely seek help, expecting that everything will pass by itself. But the disease is only progressing. And it leads to extremely disastrous consequences.

From a medical point of view, it is quite obvious that depression is a disease, moreover, statistically described and proven, and, in turn, associated with specific physiological parameters. Often, doctors generally consider this disorder as a function of the bodily reaction, which is associated with hormonal disorders, disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system and the brain in particular, which in turn inhibit the activity of most of the life support organs.

Depression often leads to suicide.

At the same time, in everyday life we often hear how the word "depression" is scattered to the right and to the left, calling everything in a row: bad mood, sadness, temporary melancholy.

And this is another reason for the general misconception about the true understanding of depression. As a result, a person who is somewhere on the border of these two phenomena - blues and depression as a disease, experiences colossal difficulties in understanding what is happening to him. And he has no idea what to do or where to run.

Therefore, let's figure it out.

Unfortunately, one must immediately admit that in some cases it is not easy even for specialists to distinguish depression from ordinary depression and bad mood, especially given that depression can be very different.

What can we say about depression in its classic form? First of all, it is manifested by a depressed mood, which drags on hopelessly for at least two weeks. And it is extremely difficult to distract from this state, if not impossible at all. True depression is also accompanied by other negative emotions besides sadness, melancholy and depression, often anxiety and anxiety, less often fears and irritability.

In addition to mood disorders, depression manifests itself in other ways. This includes changes in thought processes. A person notices that he has absolutely trouble with the ability to concentrate, remember and submit some kind of productive thoughts. It is impossible to say that in this respect everything is absolutely bad, but there will be a noticeable difference in the productivity of thinking from its usual state. And this is not because something happened to a person's thought and cognitive processes, but because, indeed, due to the general suppression of the activity of the psyche, a person is simply less able to concentrate on something.

For classical depression, motor retardation is also characteristic. A person begins to make fewer body movements, he does not want to do anything, and in general he gives the impression of a sluggish person, completely devoid of vital energy. A typical manifestation of depression is apathy, which has certain gradations, ranging from easy options, when it is difficult to start something, and ending with difficult cases when a person cannot force himself to do anything at all.

Depression is usually associated with psychosomatic disorders, and they can be very different. There are often unexplained headaches, shortness of breath, a feeling of heaviness throughout the body, etc. Sleep and appetite are disturbed. And here it should be noted that both insomnia and constant drowsiness, both loss of appetite and excessive seizing of sorrows and sadness are a violation of the normal state and are pronounced symptoms of depression.

And the most basic thing that accompanies all manifestations of this ailment is the feeling of one's own inferiority, imperfection, a constant feeling of guilt. A person blames himself not only for some actions, but simply in fact, simply because he lives. Accordingly, the attitude towards the value of one's own life is significantly reduced, up to suicidality - from passive suicidal thoughts, to active planning to take one's own life and, in fact, commit suicide attempts.

When is it time to sound the alarm? At what point can we recognize depression as distinct from blues?

Indeed, depression somehow borders on the blues of social alienation, feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, exaggerated self-esteem, but there are significant signs that distinguish one concept from another.

Let's summarize. What are the main signs of true depression?

- All-consuming enduring sadness, anxiety, fears, irritability;

- Apathy, loss of interest in the outside world;

- Tendency to self-flagellation, insecurity;

- Slowing down of thought processes, impaired concentration;

- Constant feeling of fatigue, which does not disappear even after rest;

- Sleep and appetite disorders;

- Headaches, muscle and stomach pains and other psychosomatic disorders.

Separately, for a relatively short time, these reactions are normal, but if we observe several of these manifestations for several weeks in a row, this is already a serious call. We can say that this is a normal reaction to life's upheavals, but if this reaction is delayed, after several such episodes it can turn into clinical depression requiring professional intervention. It is necessary to establish a diagnosis and urgently begin treatment. It is definitely not worth delaying, because the consequences of inaction can be extremely dire.

If you would like to learn about methods of helping yourself and loved ones in a state of depression and other aspects of this disorder, put + in the comments.