Adolescent And Involutionary Depression

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

Adolescent and Involutionary Depression

Often we are "attacked by blues", and this does not depend on age. We try to cope with it, and we often succeed even in this. We come up with rest and entertainment, we eat chocolate, bananas and other goodies. We go fishing, hunting or shopping. We visit a beautician, hairdresser, pool or spa treatments. We listen to our favorite music, go to the theater, to exhibitions and concerts. And it’s better not to become in the mood, the “blues” does not go away, moreover, it becomes even sadder, pointless anxiety appears, sleep worsens and working capacity decreases. And then we start talking about depression …

Depression and age …

There are certain differences in each age period, which are characterized not only by hormonal, but also by psychological personality traits. And no matter how old a person is, he experiences both positive and negative emotions, rejoices or sad, cries or laughs …

Often it depends on the personality of a person, and also because there are pessimists and optimists who see the same events differently: young spring grass that makes its way to life or a dank landscape with slush and cold rain.

Recently, depression has rejuvenated and began to occur even in children. And due to the fact that the age population on the planet has increased, the number of cases of age-related (involutional) depression has increased.

Depression can vary significantly in its manifestations depending on the age of the patient. Depression of the polar age periods …

Teenage depression

The reasons that contribute to the emergence and formation of the characteristics of the course of depression in adolescents can be as follows.

- The process of self-identification and finding your place in life. Formation of relationships with others. Depression can occur when a teenager feels a deterioration in relationships with family and friends. When emotional closeness is lost with parents, and friends move away and find new friends for themselves, a teenager may feel unnecessary, lonely. And due to the fact that at this age the opinion of the people around him is very important, self-esteem can drop sharply.

- Family problems (divorce or death of parents, quarrels in the family, alcohol abuse by parents, cruel and rough treatment). This can lead to the emergence of not only aggressive protest behavior in the adolescent, but also to depression, which "helps" to distance himself from what is happening.

- Problems at school (conflicting relationships with peers, as well as sometimes teachers, failures in mastering the school curriculum and the inability to compensate for this with success in sports or other activities).

- Emotional experiences of first love, when a possible unsuccessful sexual experience can lead to sexually transmitted diseases, depression and even suicide due to unhappy love.

All these processes occur against the background of hormonal changes in the body and psychological maturation of a teenager.

Features of adolescent depression

Teenagers try to cope with their emotional state by far from medical methods - alcohol and drugs, the consequences of which can be catastrophic for the health and social development of a young person.

In adolescence, such typical symptoms as depression, low mood, depression can be hidden by them and expressed only in their intimate life (in diaries, in conversations with selected close friends, etc.). And here it is very important for parents not to miss a change in the child's state, not to ignore when depression occurs. And this is possible only when children see friends in their own parents and are confident that they will always understand them and come to the rescue in any situation.

In addition, depression at this age can manifest itself with symptoms of various diseases (dizziness, heart rhythm disturbances, fluctuations in blood pressure, constipation, headaches and pain in various parts of the body, etc.), which can lead to excessive hypochondriac fixation on painful experiences. And this is dangerous for a still very young person "going into illness."

Teenagers rarely complain about their condition, moreover, they deny their poor health and refuse to discuss their experiences with others and even those close to them.

The slowdown in psychomotor functions, which is characteristic of depression, is not common. But adults often perceive these manifestations as features of transitional age (indifference, isolation from the outside world).

Impulsivity, irritability, and anger are common, which are not usually associated with depression. This can lead to delinquent, antisocial behavior: conflicts with others (parents, teachers, classmates, etc.), alcohol abuse, psychoactive substances, absenteeism, refusal to study and run away from home. Such behavior is the subconscious management of fear of not living up to the expectations directed at it, failing, not withstanding any test.

Another feature in adolescent depression is when increased activity, which is often chaotic, is replaced by isolation and inertia.

It is necessary to note such a feature of depression in adolescents as a feeling of inability to resist their suffering, so they can often commit suicidal attempts.

Involutional depression (involutional melancholy)

The specificity of depressive disorders in persons of involutional (late) age is associated with the aging process. Such patients are pessimistic about the present and, especially, the future in connection with very real fears about health and material well-being, and also overestimate the past, which they perceive as happy and prosperous.

In connection with the termination of work (retirement), of course, there is a big difference between the previous way of life and the present. Therefore, the deterioration of objective reality often leads to an increase in the incidence of not only depressive in their pure form, but also anxiety-hypochondriac and anxiety-delusional disorders. In this case, simply advice and consolation of others without specific drug treatment will not help the patient.

And the cause of all these disorders is not only the result of hormonal imbalance, but also decompensation of a previously successful lifestyle.

The realization comes that it is impossible to achieve the previously set goals and it is necessary to draw a “line of life”. The patient's condition worsens in the presence of certain unfavorable factors: when someone dies from a loved one (especially if it concerns one of the spouses) or adult children leave to live separately. And loneliness comes….

The relevance of the allocation of involutional depression has long been disputed, one can consider the point of view of late-age pathomorphosis of depressive mood disorder, which first began in the second half of life.

Features of evolutionary depression

- There is unreasonable anxiety with fears for their health, the condition of loved ones, material well-being. Often, anxiety reaches the level of agitation, when patients lament, groan, look around in confusion, rush and do not find a place for themselves (raptus melancho | icus).

- An intolerable feeling of anxiety and increased physical activity is a direct path to the possibility of making a suicidal attempt. Therefore, such patients need careful medical supervision. It happens, to our great regret, that these patients commit extended (altruistic) suicides, when, saving them from supposedly unbearable torment, they try first to take the life of their loved ones, and then themselves. But it also happens that agitation in involutional depression is not always accompanied by severe speech or movement disorders.

Most often, involutional melancholy is in the nature of a protracted single attack. In most patients, the course of anxious, depressive and delusional symptoms is monotonous and monotonous. But sometimes, with an acute onset and timely active therapy, a deep and stable remission can occur after several months.

There are cases when depression in involution is accompanied by delusional ideas (fictional judgments without criticism of the patient, which do not lend themselves to persuasion). Most often, these are ideas of unfair accusation and / or condemnation of the patient by others.

Also, nihlistic-hypochondriacal delusions of fantastic content (Kotard delusions) may develop.

There may be some perceptual deceptions.

It should also be noted that patients with age-related depression are often not critical of their condition, they do not ask for help, and it is very difficult to convince them of the need for treatment, and sometimes even completely impossible.

Therefore, for such patients, the support and attention of relatives and friends is very important. A painful depressive state cannot be ignored, but it is necessary by any means to convince the patient to consult a psychiatrist in order to receive qualified help on time. Lack of the necessary drug treatment can worsen mental as well as concomitant somatic pathology. This will not only further reduce the patient's social adaptation and quality of life, but can also lead to suicide, and we will lose a loved one …

Think about whether we have the right to do this to older people? After all, we will be at this age. Do we want to be treated the same way?