What is the danger of depression in older people and its treatment? When a child is moping

WHO predicts that by 2020 depression will become the second leading cause of disability and mortality. More and more more people suffer from anxiety and depressive disorders and need help. But most don't get it. What are the dangers of sadness and anxiety? President of the Professional Medical Psychotherapeutic Association Vladimir Kurpatov.

Age of neuroses

Ksenia Yakubovskaya, website: - Vladimir Ivanovich, why is our mental health worsening every year?

Even healthy people need it from time to time psychological help. There is a large army of psychologists, centers and trainings for them. Inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care is well organized for mentally ill people. Competent specialists work with patients. But there are patients who belong to “minor psychiatry”: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, neuroses, psychosomatic diseases. And it is precisely this category of patients that lacks the available forces and resources. Naturally, without high-quality and timely assistance, diseases turn into chronic stage.

Over the past 10 years, the number of depressed patients has increased by 20%. And the number of specialists and rooms for free appointments has decreased. There are only 1.5 thousand psychotherapists in all of Russia. In this regard, we are significantly inferior to developed countries, where they are actively involved in the prevention and treatment of depressive and psychosomatic disorders. It feels like we are waiting for an epidemic of mental illness to begin.

Depression ruins a marriage

“It seems like everyone is depressed these days, and it’s even fashionable.” Maybe we are already used to living in this state?

This is a dangerous delusion in which the population lives. We believe that depression is a sad mood, depression or blues, which goes away due to willpower, correct behavior, and upbringing. But this is a serious mental disorder, which, if treated poorly, leads to disability. There are already more than a million people with mental disabilities in the country. If you turn a blind eye to these problems, the consequences will be devastating, both socially and economically. Depression is a decrease in performance, activity, attention, desire to make efforts, set goals, and often aggression. Moreover, in the course of a scientific study, we found that if one of the spouses suffers from depression, the marriage often breaks up. It's difficult to live next to someone who is constantly depressed.

- Why?

They simply don’t know that their condition is related to mental illness. And not every specialist will tell them this. Patients say they have to visit up to 16 different medical offices, before they finally get to see a therapist. Patients are afraid to contact specialists; they believe that they will be “registered,” banned from driving, deprived of other rights, or their loved ones will turn away because of the cliché “mentally ill.” A person remains with his disorders, they progress.

Being sane is too expensive

- How do you understand that it’s time to go to a specialist?

One of the most obvious signs disorders - sleep disturbance. As well as changes in appetite in any direction, excessive anxiety, sweating, rapid heartbeat, unstable mood, decreased performance. This brings up another problem. Many people confuse a psychologist with a psychotherapist. Pre-morbid and painful conditions should be dealt with by trained doctors. A psychologist is a non-medical specialist. Today you can get certificates quickly; there is no need to confirm your qualifications. An unhealthy person can go to a psychologist for years, but there will be no results.

It has been proven that depression is associated with changes in the activity of neurotransmitters in the brain. Such disorders cannot be treated without medication. There are a huge number of drugs, and it is possible to choose one that will not affect the quality of life or individuality of a person. Depression can be successfully treated; it is not an incurable disease. The main thing is to start treatment on time.

- How? People complain that clinics offer them consultations with a psychotherapist for a lot of money.

By law, citizens have the right to free help. But, unfortunately, they don’t always get it. There are not enough specialists in clinics. Often they only have time to prescribe some medications. At the same time, any clinic is interested in having a psychotherapist provide additional paid services. In private clinics, such assistance can cost 3-5 thousand rubles. And if a depressive state has developed, then on average a person needs 20-30 visits to a specialist. Not everyone can afford such expensive help. I am confident that all psychotherapy should be easily accessible in regular clinics, as throughout the world.

A healthy lifestyle, attention to your diet, rest, physical activity and other well-known rules must be followed. But I doubt that people will give up smartphones, the Internet, cars, subways and other blessings of life and go to the bosom of nature. Namely, the features of modern life have a negative effect on our psyche.

There is no 100% prevention or protection against depression yet, only timely help in the early stages. Outpatient therapy has a tremendous effect and it is necessary to develop it. Including raising the culture of mental health so that people are not afraid to get treatment. We all need to realize the importance of mental health.

This disease has been known since the time of Hippocrates, and an experienced psychotherapist will tell you how to get rid of it.

During prolonged depression There is a decrease in self-esteem, and there is also a loss of interest in life and usual routine.

In certain situations, a sick person is predisposed to alcohol, nicotine or other types of addiction. Treatments and causes vary.

Symptoms of the disease

Depressive symptoms are divided into main and additional.

In order to confirm the diagnosis, the presence of two main and at least three additional signs. Symptoms of long-term depression vary. The main ones:

• a depressed state that does not depend on situations for a long time (14 days or more);
• loss of interest or satisfaction in previous activities;
• profound fatigue and lack of strength, manifested by the persistence of this state (for example, for 30 days).

Additional symptoms of the disease:

• doom, sadness;
• feelings of guilt, meaninglessness, confusion, panic and fear;
• excessive self-criticism;
• inability to concentrate and find a way out of a situation;
• thoughts of death and suicide;
• loss of appetite, noticeable decrease or increase in body weight;
• sleep disturbance, insomnia or, conversely, long sleep.

Depression is no more common in children than in adults. Its symptoms:

• loss of appetite;
• sleep problems (nightmares);
• difficulties in learning that were not noticed before;
• Character problems: arrogance or hostility.

Over the course of 14 days, 4 or more of the following symptoms may occur:

• depression (children and adolescents may experience short temper);
• significant decrease in satisfaction or interest in most activities;
• loss of weight and appetite (increased cravings for food and weight gain are likely);
• mental agitation or inhibition;
• decreased activity and increased fatigue;
• a feeling of “worthlessness” and increased self-criticism, as well as an unjustified feeling of guilt;
• passivity of thinking or decreased performance, concentration;
• suicidal tendencies;
• disruption of the digestive organs;
• decreased energy, increased fatigue during ordinary physical exercise and intellectual stress, excessive relaxation;
• pain and various discomfort in the body (for example, heart pain, stomach pain, muscle pain).

Prolonged depression appears after a prolonged stressful state, but often for no reason. In this case, the person feels a deterioration in health every day. It should be understood that in some people the presence of several signs does not at all indicate the presence of the disease. However, it is important to know how to get out of prolonged depression. It is unlikely that you can fight this condition on your own and must be treated.

Forms of depression

1. Major depressive disorder (major depression) is a clinical form. During a couple of courses there is no improvement from treatment with antidepressants.
2. Minor depression, in which several typical manifestations are observed for more than 14 days.
3. Atypical form. Along with the main symptoms, specific ones are also observed: increased appetite, increased body weight, drowsiness, and emotionality.
4. The postnatal type of pathology develops after childbirth.
5. Recurrent transient depression, during which symptoms become apparent no more than once every 30 days for 3 days.
6. Dysthymia (considered long-lasting), referring to chronic mood disturbances. The patient reports daily unsatisfactory mood for more than two years.

How does the disease manifest itself?

At first, neurasthenia, sleep problems, and loss of desire to perform daily duties are observed. Symptoms may worsen over 14 days, indicating the onset of the disease. Full manifestation occurs after 60 days or more. One-time attacks are observed.

If the disease is left untreated for a long time, the possibility of attempting suicide increases. There is a distance from family and friends for no apparent reason. Possible neurosis. The duration of the disease is on average from 20 to 32 weeks. The disease brings mental suffering to the person himself and the people around him. Relatives are not always able to help the patient. Especially when the disease has already developed into a protracted or severe form. A specialist can help. After all, sometimes ignoring pathology can lead to death. You need to contact a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, neurologist or psychologist.

The main advice from psychologists may be the following: do not feel sorry for yourself, fight your condition and try to get out of it, come to terms with the cause of depression, get enough sleep.

It is necessary to keep yourself in good shape, exercise if possible and eat right, which is especially necessary for women. Unfortunately, patients are often afraid to go to a specialist for the treatment of psychological problems due to perceived adverse consequences:

• likely social restrictions;
• general condemnation if anyone finds out that a person is being seen by a psychiatrist;
• fears of the negative impact of medications on well-being, which is often based on false ideas about the damage caused by psychotropic drugs.

Methods for treating prolonged depression

Treatment options for the disease depend on the condition. As a result, therapy occurs either with complete hospitalization or partially within the walls medical institution. Prolonged depression in most cases is treated with the use of pharmacological drugs, psychotherapy and social adaptation. First of all, the patient must abandon his previous lifestyle, otherwise even the most powerful antidepressants will not lead to a positive result.

During pharmacotherapy, stimulating and sedative effect. The former are used for deep depression with manifestations of melancholy and apathy. The dosage of drugs such as Clomipramine, Imipramine, Paroxetine, Desipramine, Pyrazidol, Fluoxetine should be prescribed by a doctor. Sedative medications are prescribed for protracted anxiety disorders with symptoms such as panic, irritation, and suicidal thoughts. Drugs: Ludiomil, Azafen, Amitriptyline, Coaxil. For mild, long-term depression, herbal preparations are used: St. John's wort.

The main thing is not to forget that if the dosage is incorrect, the disease may worsen. Psychotherapy is considered not a replacement, but a significant addition to medical treatment. Unlike drug therapy, it implies a more active role for the patient in the treatment process and promotes the development of new emotional self-regulation skills, which in the future ensures more productive overcoming of critical situations without going into depression.

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Effective measures to combat prolonged depression

Why is it dangerous?

Prolonged depression appears after long-term stress. In this state, a person feels worse every day.

Here are some of the consequences this condition can cause:

1. Health problems. Depression is, as a rule, a passive lifestyle, constant nervous tension, lack of desire for healthy eating and playing sports. Increasingly, the best friends of people in this state are alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. All this inevitably leads to deterioration of health.
2. Nervous breakdowns. Pessimism, Bad mood, irritability, apathy accumulate negative energy in man. An excess of these emotions promises a nervous breakdown. And sometimes it has dire consequences - in a state of such passion, a person suffering from depression can create a real disaster with his own hands.
3. Loss of meaning in life. Depression gradually reduces communication with family and friends to “no,” fewer and fewer people want to provide help, support is shown less and less, and self-esteem falls lower and lower. “Then why live if no one needs me?” - sounds in the head of a person who has fallen into depression. The general condition from these thoughts only gets worse.
4. Terrible appearance. All of the above may subsequently cause some of the following defects in appearance:

• obesity or, on the contrary, ugly thinness;
• “dull” eyes;
• bags under the eyes;
• fatigue;
• poor posture (usually stooping);
• unkempt hair and skin;
• for girls – lack of attractive makeup and manicure;
• appearance of bad taste in clothing, etc.

Signs and symptoms

In fact, there are many types of depression. Some are associated with some event (postpartum, a consequence of separation, etc.), others – with age (in a teenager, in older people, in the end, a midlife crisis). But the manifestations of this disease are almost always the same.

This condition has the following symptoms:

• constant bad mood;
• tearfulness;
• apathy;
• a feeling of complete misunderstanding (of people and people);
• sleep disorders;
• lack of appetite;
• rapid fatigue even with low loads;
• decreased sexual desire;
• reluctance to strive for anything;
• increased anxiety, despair;
• distrust of others;
• refusal of other people's help;
• craving for loneliness;
• low self-esteem;
• loss of interest in everything that is happening;
• self-flagellation.

It is important to understand that for some people, the manifestation of some of the symptoms does not at all indicate the presence of a stressful condition. For them, it’s just a character trait and an acceptable way of life for them. In a person who is in prolonged depression, at least 80% of these symptoms can be noted.

How to treat

Psychotherapy

Most likely, a person with long-term depression will not be able to return to normal life on one's own. There are some specialists working to help cope with this condition and other mental disorders.

What are the symptoms bipolar depression? Read on.

Here is a list of people who have the power to make a significant positive impact:

Everyone works in their own ways. Some bring you out of despondency with conversations, others with medications, others with hypnosis, etc. But you need to remember that you should go to them only if you have a sincere and overwhelming desire to cope with a severe form of apathy. Otherwise, the help of doctors will most likely be invisible.

Drug treatment

This situation will have to be dealt with with the help of special medications. Their action is aimed at calming nervous system, reduce susceptibility to irritating factors.

However, such medications cannot be the only way treatment. They are prescribed in order to dampen this condition in order to begin more effective subsequent work with the patient.

Please note that some drugs have a number of side effects. You cannot prescribe them yourself. Only a specialist can choose a comprehensive and beneficial treatment for you.

Homework

A person must first of all help himself to get out of prolonged depression. Listed below are the basic techniques that will enable you to make a big leap towards getting rid of this condition.

1. Dream. To be in a good mood, you need to get enough sleep. High quality and long sleep It also allows you to partially forget about “eternal” fatigue, weakness, decreased concentration and other ailments. Please note that people with low blood pressure take longer to get enough sleep.
2. Proper nutrition. Speeches about this are always so inspiring, but after 1-2 days of porridge and steamed cutlets, the desire to watch your table disappears. In fact, everything is much simpler than it seems. It just requires good preparation. You need to go online and look for recipes that are healthy and affordable for you and your wallet every day. You will see how diverse this cuisine is! Write down the menu for 2-3 weeks. Important: write down a list of “standby” dishes that you can prepare if you don’t want to bother with what is scheduled for lunch or dinner in your schedule. But it is still advisable not to deviate from what was stated earlier. After just a month of eating this way, you can feel lightness and restoration of the functioning of the whole body. Your health will naturally improve.
3. Phytotherapy. Use various herbs has an excellent effect on both mental state and well-being. Decoctions, infusions, dry mixtures, rinsing, steaming are the most gentle way to solve many problems. In addition, it is an excellent alternative to medications.
4. Sport. Daily exercise is the bare minimum. For residents of large and developed cities, there are many affordable options. There are many areas where everyone can find themselves: swimming, dancing, yoga, aerobics, playing basketball, volleyball and much more. You can also easily find friends here, which can also affect the course of your life. Jump rope, hoop, yoga - you can do these and others every day without leaving your home. The most “desperate” ones can start running, skiing, skating, etc. Among other things, playing sports has a beneficial effect on the formation of an excellent figure.
5. Attractive appearance. When people of the opposite sex like a person, self-esteem increases noticeably, and this has a beneficial effect on mood. You can take the first steps towards changing your image with the help of online programs, tips taken from magazines, online lessons, etc. Yes, in the end, changing your image costs some money, but if you start working on yourself gradually, the costs will probably not be much for you noticeable.

How to get rid of severe depression? Read the article.

1. Don't feel sorry for yourself. While a person sympathizes with his condition, he feeds his enemy - depression - with ever new forces. You need to be stronger, because life passes, and not in the best way, but everything can be fixed...
2. Don't be dramatic. Many people go through what can be called the cause of depression. It is necessary to come to terms with the fact that caused this condition and either try to correct it, or move on with life, depending on the situation.
3. Don't sit idly by. If a person with such a problem locks himself in the house near the TV, nothing will happen. On the contrary, after a certain time he will drown more and more in his condition. And if he goes out and begins to develop himself, move, work on himself, make new friends, communicate, then the problem will gradually begin to be forgotten.

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Symptoms and treatments for prolonged depression

Well, what if a person has always been like this? Self-absorbed, depressed, with a negative outlook on life, lethargic and apathetic. Maybe he's just a pessimist? Alas, things are not always so simple. If depression has a long, protracted form, and began in childhood, it is indeed very difficult to diagnose. And the patient himself is in no hurry to go to the doctors, because long years I’m used to considering all these symptoms as simply features of my character. And yet this disease has a name - prolonged depression.

Formation, signs and course of the disease

Prolonged depression can last for years. This disease most often occurs in people with severe somatic diseases that can pose a real threat to life. For example, about a third of all patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction suffer from prolonged depression. Persons with oncological pathology, and patients with tuberculosis. This is due to the fact that having a chronic disease that directly threatens life, a person experiences constant super-stress. Over time, in the absence of positive dynamics in the general somatic disease, mental condition the person is getting worse and symptoms of prolonged depression appear: depressed state, loss of interest in life, negative outlook on life, low self-esteem, etc. For this reason, prolonged depression is usually expressed primarily through psychological symptoms. Often this condition later develops into a neurotic personality development - a depressive or hypochondriacal type.

The clinical picture (symptoms) of prolonged depression is generally often similar to hypochondriacal depression. The patient develops various fears associated with the underlying somatic disease. In addition, self-esteem decreases significantly; the patient considers himself a burden to the family and blames himself.

Another factor predisposing to the formation of a protracted form of depression is alcoholism. In general, the initial emotional and personal characteristics of a person lead to alcohol abuse. And with prolonged alcoholism, permanent psycho-emotional disorders develop, turning into a protracted course of depression. In the future, the problem grows like a snowball: drinking alcohol during existing depression leads to a decrease in critical assessment and self-control, and ultimately even to suicide attempts.

Features of the disease in children and adolescents

When we talk about adults, it is clear that for the formation of a protracted course of the disease, more than significant factors are needed (for example, the presence of severe cancer). What about children? After all, there are situations when a person feels the symptoms of prolonged depression all his life, from childhood, it becomes like a part of his personality.

As for children, symptoms of prolonged depression may develop in them due to the following factors:

• long-term illnesses, frequent hospitalizations in childhood;
• personality traits of the child (anxiety, suspiciousness, and a tendency to hysterical reactions predominate);
• chronically unfavorable psycho-emotional climate in the family;
• comorbid mental disorders (eg, schizophrenia);
• organic lesions of the child’s central nervous system.

It is important to understand that in this case, we are talking not only about children, but also about those adults who have been accompanied by symptoms of protracted depressive disorder throughout their lives. Most likely, the prerequisites for its formation developed in childhood, and then the disease passed into the chronic stage. In such cases, treatment can be difficult, because the disease manages to gain a foothold in the nervous system and human psyche.

All about prolonged, deep depression

A person’s character is so multifaceted that he himself often does not even suspect that he has protracted (deep) depression, attributing the main signs to poor health or the influence of external circumstances. Irritation, resentment, sadness - these emotional signs can cause very irreparable harm to mental health if they occur too often, or even become a habit.

Most people do not consider mental anguish a reason to turn to a specialist, bashfully hiding their suffering, considering the problems too insignificant and personal. But in fact, prolonged depression is similar to a mechanism of self-destruction and here the support of loved ones and proper treatment is necessary.

If a person is left alone with depression, he must help himself by turning to a psychotherapist, otherwise the result may be suicide, or moral emptiness and facelessness. Prolonged and deep depression destroys the protests of the individual and destroys individuality. A person ceases to perceive reality, does not want to do anything, there is no stimulation in life.

Symptoms and signs

Depression comes hand in hand with time, this phenomenon is so ambiguous and elusive. Gradually, starting from some kind of internal breakdown, she repaints bright colors into very dull colors, a bad mood becomes commonplace. Everything is wrong, everything is not right - life does not bring the former joy of perception. It seems to a person that there is no reason to live, there is no one to love and there is nowhere to wait for salvation.

These hidden thoughts are very reflected in a person’s appearance. He is not interested in what he looks like; he is annoyed by any circumstances that require his active participation. A person who has deep depression is not able to analyze, do and think - he is completely absorbed in soul-searching, analyzing past mistakes and disappointments.

The melancholy expression does not leave his face, dark circles under the eyes indicate insomnia. His place in social society is bursting at the seams, and now it seems to a person that he has found the only correct solution- leave this deceptive world. All these are symptoms and signs of an illness, the treatment of which must be carried out immediately. But from a medical point of view, a potential suicide might simply need to have his thyroid gland treated.

Teenagers as an example

A joke of fate - human mood is closely related to health. If everyone knew what to do with the body in order to cure the spirit, as a psychoanalyst knows, suicide statistics in the world would significantly decrease.

Especially to such phenomena as constant depression, teenagers are very prone to this during their transition period, associated with the frequency of hormonal surges. Known signs such as:

caused by nothing other than a restructuring of the body. And, if you do not provide all possible assistance in resolving internal contradictions in time and do not receive treatment from a specialist, depression is quite capable of striking.

External prerequisites

The human psyche is structured in such a way that no mental health specialist can know exactly what to do. The only symptoms that scientists rely on are based on the human immune system and external factors that greatly influence the will and love of life.

Immunity plays an important role not only in the life of the body, but also in personal development. Lack of iron, for example, can have a negative effect on certain areas of the brain responsible for emotional mood.

But quite healthy person may become severely depressed if he has experienced some kind of shock. Several common prerequisites for depression have been identified:

• early loss of loved ones;
• personal tragedies;
• alcohol or drug addiction;
• neurological diseases;
• hereditary character traits;
• innate sensitivity;

If emotionally it is not clear from a person that he is hiding depressive tendencies, somatic signs, they can help recognize upcoming problems. These are insomnia, appetite disturbance, headaches and dizziness.

Sometimes treatment with certain drugs provokes blues and depression.

The point of view of a professional doctor

Since very advanced depression can really destroy a person’s life irrevocably, scientists and the pillars of psychiatry have elevated it to the rank of complex mental illness. This is not surprising, since moral emptiness can lead to complications such as:

And these are more serious illnesses that can accompany depression or be its continuation. The amazing relationship between emotions and health has not yet been solved. Only three consequences have been discovered that help prescribe the correct treatment.

Psychology of life

There is such a thing as personality types. Some are more prone to depression than others:

• Statothymic - exaggerated principles, conscientiousness.
• Hyperthymic - very low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence.
• Melancholic - excessiveness in everything, pedantry.

All these qualities are fertile ground for the germs of neurosis, since reality does not always correspond to ideas as it should be.

The division into personality types greatly helps psychiatry to identify the following signs of impending deep depression, the treatment of which takes a long time. This is isolation and complexes - their presence almost always predisposes to disorders.

Biology

Terrible depression can also begin without any long-term prerequisites. This hereditary factors, independent of human essence. Or side effects medicines intensive care. Here are some basic points for the development of a nervous disease:

Very often, somatic diseases are inherited. Symptoms can be veiled until a certain age; in particular, it is important to survive adolescence, do something and prevent depression from developing. Treatment of such depressive conditions is very complex and multifaceted.

Sociology

Due to social factors, it may also appear terrible depression mainly in women and adolescents. Thus, men do not suffer due to migration and easily settle down in any conditions. Adaptation of women occurs according to a different scenario, very often complicated by nervous disorders.

Deep depression does not necessarily begin with a change of place of residence, but this step in itself is fraught with negative emotions, because it is difficult for women and children to create a new social circle. The signs and symptoms of the onset of melancholy are divided into several long months of adaptation:

• chronic stress associated with moving and hassle;
• feeling of insecurity;
• financial difficulties;
• quarrels and disagreements in the family;
• fear of not finding like-minded people.

Social ups and downs that cause phenomena such as depression and apathy include the following factors:

• family discord;
• drastic changes in life;
• moving;
• strict and tough upbringing;
• lack of love.

Any life shocks, unnoticed by a person, endow him with chronic stress. And something needs to be done with it, otherwise there is a possibility that a very terrible depression will develop, from which there is no way out.

Treatment

Doctors consider depression in any of its manifestations to be a brain disease, and a complex one at that. More than half of the world's population suffers from this disease; many are unaware of its presence and how to get out of deep depression. If we briefly describe all the symptoms of such a disease as advanced depression, then the most important signs are apathy and depression for a long time, and the accompanying ones:

• feelings of guilt and anxiety;
• psychomotor abnormalities;
• chronic insomnia;
• decreased or increased appetite;
• negative thoughts.

The following somatic disorders often progress against the background of depression:

• cardiac ischemia;
• complications with the thyroid gland;
• osteochondrosis;
• gastrointestinal disorders;
• joint pain;
• hepatitis.

Not all consequences are listed. Women are more likely to seek medical help after recognizing symptoms than men, who have a habit of drowning depression in alcohol, encouraging their own alcoholism. As a result, they end up with a number of diseases coupled with social problems.

Psychotherapists have several effective methods the fight against an illness whose name is deep depression.

The most popular is hypnosis, which helps convince a person in the opposite direction from his existing thinking as a result of the neglect of the disease.

Used and drug treatment, as well as psychotherapy sessions with relaxing procedures. During treatment, it is important not only to eliminate stress with antidepressants, but also to cure accompanying illnesses, strengthen the spirit and body. It is important for the patient to understand that he really needs help, to understand the problem, otherwise there is no point in doing anything.

Major depression: causes, symptoms and treatments for the disorder

Major depression or long-term depression is a severe mental disorder characterized by sharp decline mood, apathy, mental and physical inhibition.

This form of the disease is often confused with somatic illnesses or even mental disorders, which is why the patient does not always receive specialized help and support on time. This is partly due to the excessive popularity of the word “depression,” which has now become fashionable to describe any emotional distress or low mood.

One of the main differences between real depression, a serious mental illness, is considered to be a constantly depressed mood and a lack of connection with deprivation or loss of something. If a person states that he is depressed due to loss of work, money, separation from a loved one, or due to any other reasons, this may be a depressive episode, a “push” to the development of the disease, but not prolonged depression. With this disease, the patient ceases to feel his connection with the world around him, everything seems unnecessary and uninteresting to him, thoughts, feelings, desires disappear, melancholy, apathy, and physical weakness set in.

Major depression usually lasts from several weeks to several years before the person begins treatment or is admitted to a specialized hospital.

Causes of depression

Everyone is at risk of developing long-term depression; approximately 5% of the population over the age of 18 suffers from this disorder.

The development of the disease is associated with the impact of several pathological factors on the human body simultaneously. Most often, this form of the disease develops in women after 40 years of age and in older people of both sexes. This is due to hormonal and age-related changes in the body, frequent stress and a general deterioration in health.

Causes of protracted depression

1. Endogenous or biological - deep depression can be caused by a hormonal imbalance in the body; a decrease in the concentration of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin causes a sharp deterioration in mood, apathy and other symptoms of the disease. This pathology, like other mental illnesses, is considered a hereditary pathology precisely because a predisposition to low levels of certain hormones, for example, serotonin, is transmitted genetically and in people with a hereditary predisposition, the risk of depression is several times higher. According to recent research by scientists, depression may occur due to a slowdown in nutrients and oxygen to the cerebral cortex, this may be due to endocrine pathologies, metabolic disorders, lack of vitamins and nutrients in the diet, and even seasonal changes. Thus, autumn or spring depression develops due to a lack of vitamins, shortened daylight hours and physical inactivity.
2. Psychogenic - it is generally accepted that it is precisely because of psychological trauma and stress, prolonged depression develops. Most often this occurs when a person “lingers” in negative experiences and does not “let go” of the situation. Death can cause depression loved one, separation or divorce from a life partner, a sudden change in lifestyle, for example, due to job loss, bankruptcy, change of residence and other similar circumstances. Sometimes an illness occurs for no apparent reason - it is caused by the inability to achieve set goals, incorrectly set priorities, the feeling that life is not lived as one would like (for example, the so-called midlife crisis) and other similar reasons.
3. Social - every person, living and interacting with the people around him, feels the pressure of society and its demands. Social problems, uncertainty about the future, military conflicts, the danger of terrorism, drug addiction and other issues, the solution of which a person is not able to influence, many times increase the personal level of anxiety of each of us, which can also cause deep depression.
4. Physiological – the cause of prolonged depression can be prolonged overwork, chronic lack of sleep, somatic diseases, abuse of alcohol, nicotine and other psychoactive substances. Diseases and not correct image life cause a strong weakening of the body, and when using any doping, the nervous system is overexcited, mediators are synthesized and consumed in increased quantity, due to which their deficiency quickly occurs, which can become a risk factor for the development of the disease.
5. Other reasons – protracted nervous breakdown may occur due to taking medications - hormonal, antihypertensive, anticonvulsant, sedatives and some others. If you take such drugs for a long enough time and without the supervision of the attending physician, deep, protracted depression may occur, which will be quite difficult to cope with, since a pronounced deficiency of neurotransmitters has formed in the body.

Symptoms

Symptoms of major depression depend on the severity and stage of the disease.

At the onset of the disease, the patient’s behavior and lifestyle remain normal, only his way of thinking and feeling changes.

As the disease progresses and the condition becomes more severe, pronounced symptoms of the disease appear.

Are common

1. Apathy - a violation of the emotional-volitional sphere is observed in all patients with deep depression. In this state, the patient does not want anything, he becomes uninitiative, little talkative, too calm, and ceases to be interested in those around him. Sometimes apathy with depression does not clearly manifest itself, the patient continues to lead a normal lifestyle, performs daily duties, but at the same time experiences a complete loss of interests, becomes emotionally cold, sad and “lazy”. The development of abulia is also characteristic - complete absence desires and motivation to act, as well as the inability to make volitional decisions. The first sign of emotional-volitional disorders is a deterioration in the patient’s mood, his behavior and appearance change - he stops monitoring the condition of his clothes, cleanliness and tidiness, does not communicate with others, spending most of his time alone.
2. Akinesia - a slowdown in motor activity in severe cases of depression can be replaced by a sharp decrease in muscle tone and limited range of movements. At the beginning of the disease, a person experiences constant weakness, reluctance to move, his performance capacity decreases, muscle activity decreases, the need to move, to do something causes irritation, as the disease progresses, muscle weakness increases, movements slow down more and more, the patient tries to move as little as possible and may simply refuse to leave your home or your room.
3. Changing your thinking is one of the biggest dangers of major depression. Moreover, these changes occur unnoticed, both for others and for the patient himself; anxiety, irritability intensify, fears appear, self-doubt, a negative attitude towards events occurring in life and the inability to cope with the influx negative emotions. Professional skills and memory deteriorate, thinking slows down, the patient has difficulty concentrating or performing any complex tasks or highly intellectual work.
4. Physical manifestations - in addition to mental changes, with depression there is weakness, headaches and muscle pain, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, weight loss or sudden increase, pain in the heart, digestive organs or painful sensations without specific localization.

Psychotic symptoms

In addition to the classic manifestations of depression, with major depressive disorder the development of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and depressive stupor is possible.

With deep depression, patients hear accusing or condemning voices and feel unpleasant odors, can see dead people, monsters, insects, snakes or other unpleasant creatures.

Typically, depression is dominated by ideas of one’s own guilt, insignificance, delusions of persecution, impoverishment, and jealousy. Unfortunately, patients often hide the psychotic symptoms of the disease, and their behavior is misinterpreted by others who do not pay attention to the person’s “eccentricities” and “bad character.”

Without medication and the help of a specialist, it is impossible to get rid of the psychotic symptoms of depression on your own. Without treatment, the patient's condition worsens, he may attempt suicide or harm himself.

Treatment

It is almost impossible to get out of such a difficult condition - prolonged depression - on your own. For treatment, it is necessary to restore normal functioning of the nervous system and increase the level of neurotransmitters in the blood.

Drug therapy helps relieve psychotic and general symptoms depression, but without appropriate psychotherapeutic treatment and lifestyle changes, it is impossible for the patient to achieve complete recovery. Only complex therapy helps get rid of everything clinical manifestations diseases and prevent their occurrence in the future.

If you suspect this form of depression in yourself or someone close to you and do not know what to do, you should seek advice from a specialist who can assess the severity of the patient’s condition and recommend treatment.

Sometimes you can even get out of prolonged depression on your own by changing your lifestyle, getting rid of a traumatic situation, devoting more time to sleep, rest, physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. Psychotherapy helps solve many problems, but in cases of severe mental disorder, most often such methods are not enough and treatment begins with normalizing the mental state with the help of drug therapy.

Drug treatment

1. Antidepressants - these are the drugs that begin the treatment of any depression. Antidepressants increase the concentration of neurotransmitters in the blood, thereby helping to normalize mood and improve the general condition of the patient. Tricyclic antidepressants (amitriptyline, clomipramine, imipramine) are used for treatment - drugs in this group are the most well studied, despite a large number of side effects and generalized effects on the body, they are still very popular due to their proven effectiveness and low price. 2nd and 3rd generation drugs (sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine, fluvoxamine) are considered safer; they are prescribed for prolonged depression in patients with concomitant pathologies of cardio-vascular system, diseases of the kidneys, liver and endocrine system. All antidepressants have a delayed effect; the results of their use become noticeable only after 2-3 weeks from the start of treatment.
2. Tranquilizers - drugs in this group help cope with anxiety, fears and sleep disorders. For treatment, diazepam, chlorazepam, lorazepam, atarax, alprazolam are most often used. Tranquilizers should be taken only as prescribed by a doctor and in the dose recommended by him, since drugs in this group are addictive and slow down thinking and reaction. When treated with tranquilizers, it is prohibited to drive vehicles or perform work that requires high concentration and reaction speed.
3. Antipsychotics – This group of drugs helps to cope with the psychotic symptoms of depression. Neuroleptics have a pronounced inhibitory effect on the brain, thereby relieving the patient of hallucinations, delusions and other symptoms of nervous system pathology. For this form of depression, atypical new generation neuroleptics are usually used, which have fewer side effects on the patient’s body (olanzapine, risperidone, amperoside, neuleptil, triftazin).

Psychotherapy

Without the help of a psychotherapist, it is impossible to get rid of a severe mental disorder forever. Treatment uses cognitive, cognitive-behavioural, family or rational therapy. All these methods help the patient to understand the problems that caused the disease, learn to cope with them on their own, or change their attitude towards life and others.

Other treatments

In the most severe cases, the following is used to treat prolonged depression:

• magnetic stimulation – the cerebral cortex is affected by magnetic impulses, due to stimulation of certain areas of the brain, the patient’s mood stabilizes and the general condition improves;
• electro-convulsive therapy is considered a very dangerous and traumatic method, it is carried out only when other methods are completely ineffective, the patient is immersed in a narcotic sleep and the brain is exposed to a short electric shock, due to which the joy hormones that the patient lacked begin to be released.

Prolonged depression is a severe mental disorder, which is almost impossible to cope with on your own; this requires medication and professional help.

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Decreased vital activity, withdrawal from reality, avoidance of communication with others and inability to enjoy the world around us are only a small part of the symptoms of a serious illness. Stressful situations that occur repeatedly to a person are often a springboard for depression and lead to a sad outcome. The consequences of depression can range from minor, such as decreased performance, to serious, including suicide attempts.

Therefore, to prevent apathy from developing into a state dangerous to health, understand the causes of the disease and try to minimize the consequences. Competent diagnostics symptoms will reveal the presence of depression or its absence, and timely contact with a psychotherapist will help to avoid many serious complications.

How to identify depression

The main consequence of depression is a decrease in a person’s quality of life, determined by the following criteria:

• physical indicators: level of activity, feeling of comfort, energy, feeling of vigor;
• psychological indicators: the ability to experience various emotions, cognitive functions, creative impulses, level of self-esteem;
• social activity: desire for a certain position in society, sexual activity, interest in personal life;
• independence: performance, daily activity.

If at least one of the listed signs is negative, it is advisable to take measures to improve the quality of life in this direction. Most negative indicators indicate depression, the delay in treatment of which leads to serious consequences.

Main consequences and signs of depression

• Deterioration in appearance

Depression causes consequences such as hair loss, brittle nails, and dull skin. If you do not pay attention to these symptoms in time, then as they progress, a loss of strength occurs, and the incentive for daily self-care disappears.

• Deterioration in physical condition

Psychosomatism leads to the fact that the patient finds symptoms of many physical diseases, which forces him to visit different specialists with the hope of a cure.

• Family problems

A person who is depressed stops coping with family problems. It was originally laid down that a man’s duty is to protect and provide for the family, and a woman’s duty is to maintain the family hearth. Therefore, a woman’s depression affects her ability to support her household and charge them with positive emotions. In this case, her healing can be facilitated not by reproach, but by support from her husband and children.

• Decreased performance level

The effects of depression can include decreased physical and mental activity. If depression is not treated promptly, its consequences can lead to job loss.

Health problems

In addition to reducing the quality of life, depression has a destructive effect on human health, being a risk factor for serious diseases such as diabetes and oncology. Unfortunately, untimely treatment or unwillingness to get out of this condition leads to the following complications:

• Diseases of the cardiovascular system. The risk of stroke or heart attack increases, the heartbeat, signs of hypertension or hypotension appear.
• Alcoholism. Most often, male depression leads to alcoholism rather than female depression.
• Disorders in the sexual sphere. Depression has a detrimental effect on a person's sex life. Consequences often include signs of decreased libido and erection problems.
• Reproductive health disorders. The consequence of prolonged depression or the stress preceding it can be hormonal disorders in the body, leading to reproductive dysfunction.
• Sleep disorders. A person suffering from depression often complains of sleep disturbances. The patient is accompanied by insomnia, anxious sleep, or, conversely, hypersomnia. Sometimes disturbances can be hidden: the person often wakes up, constantly has nightmares, talks or walks in his sleep.

• Deterioration of mental abilities. Depression promotes the death of cells in the nervous system, which slowly but noticeably leads to such disorders. This manifests itself in the problem of concentrating on mental tasks, forgetfulness, and deterioration of logical thinking. The decrease in energy characteristic of a depressive state leads to loss of interest in any activity, which ultimately leads to physical, mental, and emotional degradation.
• Decreased immunity level. A depressed person is more likely to suffer from acute respiratory infections. viral infections, more often suffers from fungal infections, since he lacks the internal resources necessary to combat vitamin deficiency and seasonal exacerbations.
• Allergies and skin reactions. A depressive state can lead to neurodermatitis, exacerbation of psoriasis, and eczema. Allergic reactions, for example, urticaria is a frequent accompaniment of this disease.
• Weakness, fatigue. Compared to the normal state of a healthy person, those with depression have significantly reduced energy levels. At the same time, physical activity decreases: the person moves little and stops playing sports. This leads to depletion of muscle mass, and as a result, to disturbances in all body systems.

Bringing back the joy of life

Simple treatment of depression is not enough: despite the success of therapy, in order to avoid relapses, the patient’s condition must be constantly maintained. Unfortunately, recovery does not always mean returning to the state in which a person lived before depression became unbearable. Therefore, for the patient to fully restore moral and physical strength and return libido, rest outside the home is useful. Proper nutrition, sports, and various active recreational activities will help restore physical strength and improve the patient’s mental state. Positive results were shown by yoga classes and a passion for creativity (for example, art therapy). Life after depression doesn't have to include negative factors that can affect the patient's condition for the worse.

According to psychologists, the success of rehabilitation is positively influenced by a pet requiring attention and care. The animal becomes a true friend. By playing with him, raising him, a person is distracted from the problems that bother him. A pet can make life interesting and eventful, and regular walks will help you make new friends. Worries recede into the background, the hormones of happiness released help cope with negativity and teach you to enjoy life again.

As they say, every cloud has a silver lining: perhaps depression will give you the opportunity to figure out what your real priorities are. Try to remember those moments in your life when you wanted this feeling of happiness to last forever? Spending time with loved ones or simple joyful moments will help you regain the ability to feel happy again.

According to them, people over 50 years of age who suffer from chronic depression (for more than two years) are at almost double the risk of having a stroke. For your information: stroke (blockage by a blood clot or rupture of a cerebral vessel) is today one of the main causes of death in developed countries.

“Exactly how the depression-stroke link works is something we have yet to study,” said study author Paola Gilsanz of the Harvard T.H. School of Public Health. Chena. “But even now it seems clear that the reason lies either in behavior (for example, that those suffering from depression are less active and smoke more) or in biological factors(for example, inflammatory processes in the body, high blood pressure, diabetes, increased level cholesterol)".

For 12 years, scientists collected data on people who had no vascular problems before the study began. They were interviewed every two years to determine whether they had symptoms of depression, and whether they had had a stroke was recorded. Over 12 years, 1,192 strokes occurred to the experiment participants. It was observed that participants with depressive symptoms presenting on two consecutive interviews were nearly twice as likely to experience strokes. Notably, the association of stroke with depression was stronger in people under 65 years of age. Those who showed signs of depression at only one interview and were then treated or self-limited still had a 66% increased risk of stroke compared with those who were not depressed at all.

This fact surprised scientists, who expected that after treating depression, the risk of stroke decreases. However, it remained high for at least two more years. Especially for women.

P. Gilsanz et al. “Changes in Depressive Symptoms and Incidence of First Stroke Among Middle-Aged and Older US Adults,” Journal of the American Heart Association, May 2015.

Consequences of depression on health and life

Depression is a mental illness. Some people do not take it seriously and call any disorder associated with deterioration of mood this way, without even knowing how dangerous it is and how important it is to make a correct diagnosis in time. If you do not seek help in a timely manner and allow the disease to develop into a severe or chronic form, you may face the negative consequences of depression.

Social consequences

The impact of any disease on the body is purely individual and is associated with factors such as its degree, form, treatment methods, the patient’s attitude to therapy, etc. It is impossible to predict in advance what depression will entail in a particular person. However, there are a number of symptoms and signs that are characteristic of a person who has overcome such a mental condition. And they are, first of all, social in nature.

• Dominance of negative emotions.
• Lack of desire to learn something new, make acquaintances, etc.
• Problems with communication in personal and professional life.
• The appearance of previously unnoticed phobias and fears (often, for example, confined spaces).
• Decreased mental abilities.
• Irritability to noise or laughter.
• Decreased libido, other problems in sexual life.
• Prevalence of feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in many situations.
• The most serious thing is the reluctance to continue life.

Often after therapy a person for a long time cannot bring himself to visit public places, especially those of an entertaining nature (bars, restaurants, clubs, etc.). This cannot but affect social adaptation. Withdrawal and unsociability are common consequences of depression.

Often, during therapy, people become so accustomed to taking medications that maintain the level of serotonin in the body (antidepressants) that they cannot completely get out of the state of depression on their own. This carries the risk of drug dependence.

The patient’s condition must be monitored even after he is cured, since at any moment he can lose faith in life and stop seeing any prospects, which often leads to thoughts of suicide. According to some studies, about 40% of people who are depressed think about leaving their life. Thus, what will happen if depression is not treated is much more dangerous than its manifestation itself.

Physical consequences

It is well known that a person’s mental state is directly related to a number of physical manifestations. Often such diseases cause a serious blow to the general condition of the patient. These health effects of depression typically affect the brain, heart, and nervous system. Among the most common are the following:

• Risk of developing thrombosis - a depressive state causes an increased release of adrenaline into the blood, which negatively affects the cardiovascular system and often leads to the formation of blood clots.
• Insomnia is a common symptom of depression, which often remains for a long time after treatment.
• Weakening of the immune system - due to a lack of deep sleep, the body does not have time to recover and becomes susceptible to various diseases; this is additionally affected by an excess of stress hormones.
• Reduced pain threshold - the hormone serotonin makes a person less sensitive to pain, its deficiency (as during depression) - on the contrary, reduces the pain threshold, which can even cause causeless pain in various limbs.
• Chronic fatigue is our body’s reaction to the reluctance to do anything, learn something new and live in general.
• Hair loss, brittle nails, and white skin are a consequence of decreased immunity and lack of sleep.

Problems with appearance, especially in women, cause even greater reluctance to change one’s own life in any way, which can either delay the moment of recovery or lead to a relapse after that. They are observed, as a rule, already during the period of depression, but often remain for some time after, until the body has fully recovered from the stress experienced.

Depression is more dangerous for people suffering from any chronic diseases. By the way, they can become an impetus for its development. In such cases, the patient, along with the symptoms of this mental disorder, experiences a more serious manifestation of the symptoms of the corresponding disease. And people in a depressed state tend to neglect taking care of their health, which can negatively affect their physical condition.

A special role should be given to the problem of alcohol or drug addiction, which often develop against the background of depression and then remain with a person for a long time. The false state of good mood that alcohol and drugs cause can be compared to the effect of antidepressants. Medicines treat symptoms, not the cause of the disease, and therefore cannot be considered as the only direction in the treatment of depression.

Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and other types of harmful substances, addictive, have almost the same effect, but with even greater harm to health. As soon as their effect ceases, the patient again exhibits symptoms of the disorder. Similar condition I immediately want to stop, which leads a person into an endless circle of taking certain substances or drugs. Addiction is very difficult to treat, especially against the backdrop of an advanced mental illness, so often in such cases, when the patient does seek help or someone from his environment does, hospitalization and a long stay in the hospital are required to fully monitor the progress treatment.

Prevention

The most obvious answer to the question of how to avoid harmful consequences For health against depression, it is to follow your doctor's instructions. But this is where the first problem arises. It takes a lot of strength for most people to even acknowledge the existence of a mental problem. In our society, it is not customary to talk about such things, much less consult a psychotherapist. However, it is precisely these actions that will prevent the disease from progressing to a severe stage.

How depression affects human health has already been described above. The consequences are truly serious. Their occurrence can be avoided only when the person himself is determined to achieve a complete cure. Of course, to do this without the help of a specialist, family, friends and, last of all, medical supplies, it will be very difficult.

People who have overcome this disease are more susceptible to relapses. On this basis, they need to be monitored after completion of treatment. These can be individual psychoanalysis sessions with the attending physician or special groups support. The help of the environment plays an equally important role. Left alone with his thoughts, a person susceptible to developing depression becomes in a dangerous state of helplessness, uselessness, etc.

Depression

Every person from time to time feels that he is lonely, sad or gives in to despair in a difficult situation. This is a natural reaction to negative events happening to us. However, if melancholy, sadness or despondency turn into our constant companions, our way of life changes significantly. It is this constant state of extreme sadness and depression that is what doctors today call depression.

This disease - the scourge of the 21st century - has actually been known since ancient times. Hippocrates was one of the first to describe depression, giving it the name “melancholy” (translated as “black bile”). In fact, today the state of melancholy is understood as something slightly different, namely a prolonged low mood, which, unlike depression, is not characterized by a strong loss of strength and despair. Some famous poets and musicians have admitted that being in a state of melancholy gave them the opportunity to dive deeper into the creative process and feel inspired. In a state of depression, this, alas, is impossible.

Depression is a set of manifestations (symptoms) that are not limited to just depressed mood. Depression can be defined as changes at the level of biochemistry, life experience and behavior, with the anatomical substrate being the brain. With depression, many negative changes occur in the patient’s body, affecting changes in the endocrine system (pituitary gland, thyroid gland, adrenal glands, sex hormones), changes in the neurochemical processes of the body associated with a deficiency of various mediators, primarily norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine), disorders from biological rhythms, the so-called circadian rhythms. All this indicates that changes have occurred in the nervous system that have affected the brain. Patients with depression tend to be inactive, unenergetic, and unsociable. And this, in turn, makes others turn away from such patients.

At the time of Hippocrates, it was believed that the human body contains 4 types of fluids - black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm. This is where the first name for depression came from – melancholy, i.e. the predominance of black bile in the body, supposedly responsible for depressed mood. Doctors of the 19th century believed that depression was inherited and caused by congenital weakness of character. At the beginning of the last century, Sigmund Freud, within the framework of his psychosexual theory, cited internal conflict and guilt as the cause of depression.

In the mid-20th century, researchers identified two types of depression, depending on the causes that caused it. The first - endogenous type - implies the development of depression due to internal factors (illness, severe heredity, etc.). The second type - neurotic, or exogenous depression - occurs under the influence of external negative events (death of a loved one, dismissal from work, moving to an unfamiliar city, etc.).

Depression – complex disorder, and it is impossible to say for sure what causes it. In modern psychiatry, it is generally accepted that for the development of depression, like most other mental disorders, the combined action of three factors is required - biological (heredity), psychological (personality and character characteristics, the desire for perfection with high standards of aspirations with a simultaneous tendency to low self-assessment of one’s successes and achievements, constant search for the meaning of life and inability to find it, the need for support from other people and the desire to realize their expectations, explanation of one’s problems external reasons and blows of fate independent of the person himself, inability to relax, stubbornness, pride and pride, which make it difficult to seek help) and social (acute and chronic stress and attempts to cope with it with the help of inadequate psychological defense mechanisms). Let's list some of the most common reasons.

Negative events that happened to a person:

• Violence is one of the most severe factors that can provoke depression. Violence is not only sexual, but also physical (beatings) and emotional (suppression, constant insults).
• Serious conflicts with friends or relatives, negative family environment.
• Death of a loved one, divorce.
• Achievement retirement age(especially for women), loss of work.
• Positive events that cause a strong emotional reaction can also cause depression. New job, marriage, graduation from university are always associated with serious changes in life - in some cases a person cannot adapt to them, and reacts to changes with depression, the so-called “adjustment disorders”.
• Serious illnesses and certain medications can also cause depression.
• Alcoholism and drug addiction – over 30% of people addicted to alcohol or drugs are depressed.
• Personal problems, social isolation (including due to other mental illnesses), social maladjustment can lead to an acute feeling of loneliness and depression.
• Hereditary factor - according to some data, the presence of depression among family members increases the risk of its development in children.

Unlike some mental disorders characterized by antisocial behavior, depression is dangerous primarily for the patient himself. In the absence of proper help and treatment, unbearable mental suffering often leads a person to attempt suicide. One in ten people with depression will attempt suicide sooner or later.

The negative impact of depression on the body extends not only to the nervous system. It increases the risk of developing asthma, coronary heart disease, and aggravates current chronic diseases, resulting in frequent deaths of patients with serious illnesses. For this reason, in modern clinics, when treating patients who are forced to remain in bed for a long time, great attention is paid to their psychological state. It is known that in elderly bedridden patients, depression most often becomes the cause of death, “ahead” of the underlying disease.

Depression has a very serious impact on all areas of a person's life. A decrease in activity leads to problems at work, sexual dysfunction negatively affects family or love relationships, and lack of interest in past hobbies makes life gray and meaningless.

Why is hidden depression dangerous?

Eat strange diseases. They seem to be simple and ordinary, but they do not lend themselves to conventional treatment. One patient periodically experiences pain in the heart and abdomen. Another has a headache, a third, for example, has toothache, they are treated, filled, removed - but the pain does not go away. Careful and repeated examinations do not reveal the organic causes of these pains: there are no abnormalities in the brain, heart, or stomach, but the constant pain is overwhelming.

In foreign practice, there was a case when the patient suffered from persistent pain in the abdominal area. First, her gallbladder was removed, then her appendix, then her uterus was removed. The pain did not go away. Getting ready for the next one surgical intervention, she went to consult a psychiatrist, and he gave her a completely non-surgical diagnosis: hidden depression. After several weeks of treatment with antidepressants, the patient’s pain went away, and all the operations she underwent were in vain. This is, of course, an extreme and isolated case. But there are a lot of cases where hidden depression is mild and therefore remains unrecognized.

The person is in pain. He is being treated by doctors of different specialties, but there is no result. In such cases, the attending physician usually sends the patient for consultation with a neurologist or psychiatrist. The patient willingly goes to a neurologist, reasoning: the importance of the nervous system in the body’s activities is obvious to everyone, and besides, it won’t hurt to treat the nerves. Completely different reasoning arises in some patients when the doctor recommends that they see a psychiatrist:

“Am I crazy, going to psychiatrists?”

The fallacy of such conclusions is undeniable, if only because the psychiatrist also deals with the nervous system and its supreme body- the brain.

Undoubtedly, the doctor offered the patient the only and reliable path for healing, but he closed this path for himself, dooming himself to worsening illness and further suffering.

Nowadays, the majority of psychiatrist patients are people suffering from depressed mood, sleep disturbances, often these people are overcome by anxiety, excessive shyness, indecision, suspiciousness, sometimes incontinence, irritability.

All these types of neuropsychiatric disorders are now treated with new medications. These drugs are from the group of major and minor tranquillizers, as well as antidepressants. It is thanks to them that the vast majority of patients can successfully undergo treatment on an outpatient basis without going to the hospital. Many people do not suspect that only 10 percent of psychiatrist patients are treated in a hospital, and 90 percent are treated on an outpatient basis in a neuropsychiatric dispensary. Even in specialized hospitals, most of the patients are in sanatorium departments.

In cases where neurotic disorders are not treated, deviations from the norm turn into illness. That is why you should not delay visiting a psychiatrist for years.

People who suffer from hidden depression, manifested by various somatic, that is, bodily, physical disorders, often do not pay attention to their neuropsychic problems. It happens that they do not notice low mood or depression at all, and if they do notice, they attribute them to physical ailments. Therefore, patients often tell the doctor only about their physical symptoms, and keep silent about their neuropsychic ones.

Such people, as evidenced medical statistics, has become increasingly larger in recent decades. It is characteristic that almost all patients of this kind have a mild course of depression, soft shapes so-called affective disorders with a predominance of physical symptoms and disorders of the autonomic nervous system. It is these symptoms that often hide a depressive state, which is the foundation, the nutrient soil, the underlying internal content diseases. That is why often both the patient and his doctor, instead of a true mental disorder, highlight an imaginary disorder - a somatic (physical) one.

This is precisely why depression in a “mask” is dangerous - a mental illness that dresses up in someone else’s clothes. Put correct diagnosis in these cases only a psychiatrist can. But the trouble is, as we have already said, that the external signs of the disease mainly do not manifest themselves in the mental sphere, and therefore patients go to the therapist.

But nevertheless, signs of a true disease exist. And the most characteristic of them is a combination of several simultaneous symptoms that have no physical causes - insomnia, lack of appetite, headache, complaints of various pains, deep anxiety, fatigue. Depression in a “mask” can be indicated either by all of these symptoms at once, or by two or three of them (of course, only when such symptoms do not have a clearly established organic basis).

An important sign that may indicate hidden depression is the frequency, cyclical nature of any bodily ailments, which also do not have a purely somatic basis.

A sign of masked depression can also be a wave-like alternation of physical symptoms with mental ones. It happens, for example, that skin eczema, itching, gout attacks, headaches, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular disorders alternate with a melancholic, depressed state. If such alternation is repeated cyclically, you need to be examined by a psychiatrist.

Women, for example, experience periodic weight loss, and on the contrary, in a few months they can significantly gain weight. As a rule, this unexpected fullness is accompanied by a disorder or cessation of regulation, shortness of breath, drowsiness, apathy, and memory impairment. When losing weight, all functions return to normal, and then become upset again. In this case, as a rule, somatic, bodily signs are in the foreground, but they are always accompanied by depression of the mental sphere.

Often there are periodic repetitions of the same somatic disorders, which are either accompanied by a depressed mood, or arise on their own, or are accompanied by anxiety, irritability, and agitation.

Often, physical ailments as part of hidden depression exactly repeat the symptoms of any disease. For example, cardiovascular disease with a clinical picture similar to angina or even myocardial infarction. Patients with such incorrect diagnoses are admitted to hospitals.

Hidden depression may also have a single symptom, such as recurrent insomnia or headaches (which again have no obvious organic cause). Such a headache or insomnia is either an indication of impending depression (in cases where it has already happened before), or may be the only external manifestation this depression, its “mask”.

Such cases also include some attacks of periodic migraines and so-called “hysterical” headaches, which also recur. Conventional medications do not bring relief from them, but treatment with antidepressants helps well (as in all cases of hidden depression).

Thus, with masked depression physical symptoms act not as accompanying, side effects, but as the main ones, as the main manifestation of mental illness. At the same time, somatic and mental symptoms can complement each other and exist together. But it also happens that physical symptoms may be the only manifestation of mental illness.

Hidden depression has another unsightly “mask” - alcohol addiction. here we mean those cases of alcoholism that can be considered as a manifestation of depression.

Before the start of systematic alcohol consumption, this category of patients experiences periodically causeless agitation, tension, anxiety, depression, loss of activity, a feeling of helplessness, difficulty communicating with others, and sadness. Such violations before a person became an alcoholic never took pronounced forms and therefore did not require medical intervention. Many patients in this group in the past periodically experienced pain in the heart, stomach, joints, and head, for which they were forced to repeatedly consult a doctor and even be treated in hospitals.

Alcohol becomes a kind of antidepressant for these patients, which is why they develop an addiction to alcoholic beverages. Consequently, one of the reasons for the occurrence of alcoholism may be the presence of hidden depression. By the way, this should be taken into account in preventive, therapeutic and organizational measures to combat this evil.

Thus, hidden depression has many “masks”. Like the ancient Greek sea deity Proteus, she takes many forms. With almost photographic accuracy, the disease can imitate the picture of a mass of functional and organic disorders.

But how to distinguish true bodily ailments from “imaginary” ones - those that are a manifestation of depression? After all, if you don’t have clear standards here, you can push the boundaries of depression and include in its department many bodily disorders that are not a manifestation of mental illness.

We have already talked about two very important signs that may indicate masked depression: periodicity, cyclical ailments and a combination of several symptoms at once that do not fit into any physical disease.

There is another leading sign. As already mentioned, many patients do not notice their depressed mood or think that it is the result of physical ailments. But in response to directed questions, these patients complain of slight depression, loss of energy, vitality, that they cannot now rejoice as much as before. Some become restless, irritable, some experience vague fear, and many find it difficult to make more or less serious decisions.

A common sign of depression can be pain, which patients describe as unusual sensations: squeezing, bursting, burning, etc. The pain can be very different, including different parts body, but it is different from ordinary bodily pain. Firstly, it intensifies at night and in the pre-dawn hours, secondly, it can seem to move, run from place to place, thirdly, patients usually distinguish it from pain that is caused by a physical cause, fourthly, it Painkillers do not work. Finally, it is very important that it has no objective physical causes. Patients usually find it difficult to describe the nature of this pain because of its unusual nature and give it only approximate characteristics.

Patients with masked depression, as a rule, note daily fluctuations in their condition. Thus, their mood worsens in the morning, and, conversely, they experience obvious relief in the evening hours.

Of course, individual signs are not only a manifestation of hidden depression, so only a psychiatrist in alliance with a therapist can decide what exactly a person is suffering from. Masked depression is observed quite often. According to foreign statistics, it occurs at one time or another in ten people out of a hundred. Most often, it affects mature and elderly people. Women suffer more from it. Hidden depression can also occur in children and young people, but much less frequently than in adults, and with even more disguised symptoms.

It happens that the only manifestation of depression in adolescents and young men is disobedience, periodic laziness and poor academic performance. Such teenagers run away from home, they are pugnacious, etc. The main reason for turning to a psychiatrist may not be mood changes, but the fact that it is simply very difficult for parents to cope with them.

Older people often mistake the symptoms of hidden depression for supposedly natural manifestations of old age. There is a misconception that indifference is normal in old age, fast fatiguability, insomnia (including early awakening), lack of appetite. These beliefs are confusing for older people and their loved ones. As a result, they do not turn to a doctor - that is, for healing, to prolong youth and delay old age. They themselves shorten their active period of life and resign themselves to pseudo-old age. But in many cases, treatment with antidepressants would remove the imaginary burden of years from them, improve the health of the body and delay true aging.

People suffering from latent depression generally respond quickly to antidepressants and are cured even when their disorders have not responded to conventional therapy for a long time. Patients taking these medications experience improved mood, increased activity, a sense of calm, and a sense of health.

Treatment with antidepressants by a psychiatrist has become an almost infallible lifeline in the fight against hidden depression. Antidepressants play a dual role in this fight: medicinal - the usual one, and diagnostic - less usual. They not only heal, but also serve as a good indicator hidden depressions. When, with questionable or ambiguous symptoms, they improve the patient’s health, this means that the symptoms are depressive and are of a mental rather than somatic nature.

Antidepressants are good assistants to the doctor and the patient; with their advent, the treatment of depressive conditions has dramatically improved and become much more effective. They help especially well in combination with other types of treatment, for example, in combination with sedatives.

Of course we're talking about only about taking medications as prescribed by a psychiatrist. The disease in question is “massed” and, because of this feature, insidious, which is why the doctor and the patient are required to be extremely vigilant about it and to be able to unravel its masks.

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Consequences of depression

Many mental disorders are in one way or another associated with altered states of consciousness, which allow you to take a fresh look at yourself, the people around you, and the whole world. However, disorders are called disorders because those who suffer from them have initially programmed themselves to see the negative in everything. Sometimes it seems that if some people happen to find themselves close to God or in Nirvana, they will still be able to endure only the most negative experiences, they will run to psychiatrists and willingly pass all the tests, and then they will take antipsychotic drugs all their lives.

These attitudes will never allow you to realize what is really happening. There is nothing good in depression, or despondency, as it is called in Orthodoxy. However, this may be the bad thing that will allow you to reassess your values. It is quite possible that this type of mental deviation is almost the only way to remember that a person is not a body, at least not only a body. True, this kind of attention to the spiritual aspect of existence most often only causes panic.

How to treat?

It is characteristic that certain manifestations of panic are becoming more and more common. For example, back in the last decade of the 20th century, so-called panic attacks were some kind of exotic syndrome. In the Soviet and post-Soviet information space, mental problems very much existed, but in general only specialists had heard about the psychopathological “calling cards” of the early 21st century, in the form of depression and panic attacks. At that time, the diagnosis “vegetative-vascular dystonia” was in fashion, which was easily diagnosed for any headaches. Now we have somehow learned to identify signs of depression and panic attacks in ourselves.

Moreover, we are seriously afraid that this is just the beginning, and that it will get even worse. We are afraid, trying to cure, without even thinking about what is really happening. We can agree that if depression is not treated, the consequences will only be negative. However, from the entire list medical events we will find efficiency mainly in:

• drug treatment;
• baths, electrotherapy, exposure to light;
• therapeutic exercises

and similar physical forms, and we consider psychotherapy itself as additional methods, although in practice this is the most important thing.

Everything is relative

There are disorders in this world that are called disorders only for reasons of political correctness. In fact, these are very real diseases. These include paranoid schizophrenia, schizotypal and bipolar disorder, a number of others. They are accompanied by hallucinations, delusions and are states that deny the ability to understand, reason, and draw conclusions. Many of these disorders are accompanied by depression, but the relationship is not reciprocal.

Every paranoid person has experienced deep depression at least once, but this does not mean that every depression is a sign of paranoia. Besides, even schizophrenia is not a death sentence. What can we say about moderate or moderate form of depression? anxiety disorders or panic attacks? Sometimes it seems that people are too gentle with themselves.

Is there anything positive about this?

We will be able to find thousands of articles in which it is unknown why they are listed negative sides considered mental disorders. Let's try to take a leap and identify something positive. If you do not agree with this approach and have strictly decided that depression is a universal evil, then ask yourself whether you are using antidepressants as the doctor prescribed? Are you following all his recommendations? Have you actually seen a psychotherapist? No one forces you... But let us still remind you that you need to fight evil and do it consistently. If this is evil for you, then why are you so passive?

For now, we will try to analyze this evil. Perhaps there is something useful in it? Let's list the main symptoms and think about the benefits they give us.

Loss of the ability to experience joy

This state will only carry a negative charge, but only as long as there are no attempts to analyze the sources of joy. This is called anhedonia, and is revealed by discovering that joy does not bring what it did before.

What was it? A simple but honest listing will show two amazing things.

1. All the pleasures were somehow unreal. For example, a lot of money and time was spent on repairs, although they could have done without it. There is such an interior style - minimalism. The most important thing about him is the man himself. And in general, all these suspended ceilings and interior doors, by definition, cannot give any happiness.
2. The ability to enjoy a number of things that cannot be done in a state of depression has not been lost. They would give me joy... It's jogging in the morning, working in the garden, plein air outdoors, bike rides, skating and skiing... Even if I do something from such a list tomorrow, the pleasure will be overflowing. But this still needs to be done.

Hence the conclusion - anhedonia clears away the unnecessary. But depression itself prevents you from doing what you need to do. And here’s another one: try to at least close your eyes, at least deceive yourself, at least try to persuade yourself to go for a run in the morning and ride a bike in the afternoon. Depression will go away, it won’t go away... It doesn’t matter! But how much pleasure there will be... More than in the usual state. Don't believe me? Then try it.

Thinking disorder

There is no need to be afraid. This is not nonsense, but simply negative judgments full of pessimism. Combined with low self-esteem, we again get realism, which is painted in dark tones, but still conveys the picture more truthfully.

If we really need to be surprised by something, then attempts to establish in our consciousness positive attitude artificially. For example, using affirmations. It is typical that when people hear about such methods, they argue about whether it “works” or “doesn’t work.” It works, but does it always have a positive effect? In any case, the depressed person has a more advantageous position. He has the potential to say later “everything is not as bad as I thought,” but those who like to induce a positive attitude in themselves do not. If something goes wrong, then all they can do is exclaim in horror that all this is a lie, but in fact the world is terrible: friends betray, everyone pursues only their own interests, but there is no stability. Well, then they will fall into depression, which will not happen to those who are already in it.

Imaginary and real problems

Even the motor retardation experienced in some forms goes away over time. Jumps and antics around low self-esteem, anhedonia and temporary disability are most often of a theatrical nature. If we consider anything a problem, it would be the attempts of some patients to “treat” depression by drinking alcohol. It may actually help for some time. Moreover, if all people could limit themselves to having a glass at dinner, then no problem of alcoholism would simply exist. In reality, alcohol, which has become a means of getting rid of despondency, will soon create a serious imbalance in the production of many hormones and other substances. To create a feeling of satisfaction, you will need more and more of it.

It will all end in alcoholism, and to get rid of it, due to the presence of acute psychological reasons, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. These are the real consequences of depression. Everything else is very much and artificially inflated. Of course, there is nothing good in this mental deviation. However, we also point out the positive aspects. So there is no reason to panic either. If you really need to be afraid, then you should be afraid of alcoholism.

New psychological trick

Since we started talking about panic, let’s try to think about panic attacks as well. Until recently, around the beginning of the 21st century, medicine noted panic disorders, but they were not called “attacks”. The condition itself was most often written off as one of the symptoms of vegetative-vascular dystonia. However, at the end of the 90s, this disorder began to be considered an autonomous medical entity, and the etiology was correlated entirely with psychiatry.

What you read below may cause displeasure for those who experience panic attacks. However, this does not deny their truth. The truth is not always pleasant.

There are a lot of pleasant and useful things about panic attacks. Please note that it is not written here that there is nothing scary about them. This would not be true. There is something scary in them, but this is precisely what is pleasant, useful and simply captivating. Let's try to look at a specific example.

A man experiences panic attacks exclusively at the post office. It doesn’t matter what he does there: sends a registered letter or receives a parcel. There is always a seemingly understandable panic at the post office. The condition is terrible... Cold in my hands, copious discharge sweat, rapid heartbeat, the feeling that he is about to faint. Sometimes it gets dark in the eyes. Every person in front of him in line is seen as an “enemy.” The only thought: “Hurry, hurry!” The person seems to understand that outside the walls of the post office all this will happen. It goes away! Interestingly, panic attacks are not always associated with attacks of horror in themselves. It's scary mainly because of what happens to the body. We all know that there are cardiovascular and similar diseases. Some symptoms that are observed with PA are no different from the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. However, during real attacks, all this can last about five seconds, and then the patient falls. In the case of PA, the duration of the “pre-stroke state” can last an hour, and will not end with any stroke. Doctors will only see slightly elevated blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat.

A man comes out of the post office. For some time, my legs still give way and my vision darkens, but after an hour not a single symptom remains. The next time you visit the post office, everything may happen again.

There is one more feature. After panic attacks, the consequences are a strange state, the effect of depersonalization and (or) derealization. In this case, a non-standard sense of yourself and the world around you is possible. Everything that happens may seem to be seen for the first time, one’s own actions are observed as if from the outside, and the illusion of being unable to control them arises. In total, this condition is accompanied by about 20 dozen experiences - from the “erasing” of certain personality traits to difficulties with imaginative thinking.

Positive aspects of panic attacks

The good thing about panic attacks is that they can be a great way to fulfill yourself. As Richard Bach said, there is nothing more satisfying than fear that disappears. But it's not just that... A panic attack is due to the fact that the situation is almost impossible to control. All physical symptoms appear as if on their own. The fear from this can be so strong that even a neurotic spasm occurs - a lump in the throat that prevents breathing. At this moment, people begin to greedily swallow air, which leads to oversaturation of the blood with oxygen and disruption of the concentration of carbon dioxide.

The whole trick is to learn to control what cannot be controlled. Life itself poses a task that is in some way superior to a controlled dream. If only for the reason that everything does not happen in a dream. The most important thing is not just to understand with your mind that the inability to control a panic attack is illusory, but to be convinced of this in practice. Just understanding it doesn't give anything. It is necessary to control, but without control - to contemplate the manifestations of the attack. It’s difficult, but it’s such an honor. Your heart is beating terribly, and you simply notice that it is beating terribly. A lump in your throat... And you don’t try to take a breath. Even a dying body will still do it as long as the person is alive. You focus on the exhalation rather than the inhalation. This is a very simple, completely solvable task. It seems that the burdens are buckling, the hands are shaking. Just note it in your mind...

The man from our example did this... He came to the post office to feel all the delights of the “rush” and climax. I came up with reasons myself - I bought something in electronic stores and paid by cash on delivery, for example. It turned out that the very fact that he was waiting for the “attack” did not cancel its appearance. She came and was even stronger. It turned out to be impossible to defeat her by any means. Breathing exercises helped only partly. They only gave the opportunity to leave the post office, walk around the city and wait for the activity to decrease, but they did not eliminate the problem... At a certain point, it “left” the post offices and began to be found in banks and stores. Moreover, the person guessed that attacks occur when he begins to think about money. These were the particular features of his particular case. But this didn’t solve anything...

Then he accepted the “challenge of fate” completely. Here are the basic principles of action...

1. Deterioration of the condition and associated panic are observed in certain places. They need to be visited regularly, and this should be done specifically in terms of working with a panic attack, and not just like that.
2. Bring the attack to the point where you can control the fear. You can leave the place only when the panic becomes uncontrollable.
3. Do not use any additional methods. The work is only psychological.
4. Nothing should be taken to the point of absurdity. As soon as it gets really bad, you need to leave the place, but return there in no more than 2-3 hours. Definitely the same day. According to the formula “we have a rest - we dive.”

Already on the 5th or 6th attempt, the attitude towards panic changed. On the first attempt, my heart was actually pounding so hard that I thought it was about to burst out of my chest. However, already the third attempt within one day was accompanied only by slight dizziness. After about 10 days of hard work, there was a little disappointment. At first, approaching the “attack point” was interesting, like going into outer space, but then the feeling of vividness of the experience began to wane. It was possible to make sure that there was nothing very serious in these attacks.

Now a little about depersonalization... If someone decides to study this issue deeply and comprehensively, they will certainly receive information that approximately such a state in Buddhism and a fairly large number of religious or occult schools is considered necessary and useful. Firstly, because yogis strive to erase the boundaries of personality in order to go beyond the perception of the world from the position of “I”. Secondly, the same view from the outside at oneself (body and thoughts) makes it possible to truly control one’s actions. Thirdly, stopping the internal dialogue releases the power of intention, which can move mountains.

Please note that both panic attacks and depersonalization cannot be conquered by doing something. This can only be achieved through non-action. The person in our example did nothing. Just approached critical point and looked at what was happening. Sooner or later, the mind and psyche did everything on their own.

Depersonalization, as a consequence of panic attacks, is similar to a random gift that ended up in the hands of the wrong person. People experience discomfort because they are not ready to accept and use the opportunities that this condition provides.

Working with depression, panic attacks, and depersonalization teaches you to control the presence of “subtle” emotions and their direction, allows you to understand the characteristics of your psyche, or at least simply remember that it exists.

Most main lesson that a person receives is a practical experience that allows him to realize that we are not physical bodies, not biological mechanisms, and our structure is not limited to internal organs and the nervous system.

The consequences of neurosis of this level depend on ourselves. You can find in this a real way to develop the ability to understand thinking and emotions, or you can become the hero of an American thriller, with a tin foil hat on his head, who is afraid of open space, crowds of people and spends his whole life in a dimly lit room. The choice is up to the person...

Depression is a mental illness. Some people do not take it seriously and call any disorder associated with deterioration of mood this way, without even knowing how dangerous it is and how important it is to make a correct diagnosis in time. If you do not seek help in a timely manner and allow the disease to develop into a severe or chronic form, you may face the negative consequences of depression.

Social consequences

The impact of any disease on the body is purely individual and is associated with factors such as its degree, form, treatment methods, the patient’s attitude to therapy, etc. It is impossible to predict in advance what depression will entail in a particular person. However, there are a number of symptoms and signs that are characteristic of a person who has overcome such a mental condition. And they are, first of all, social in nature.

• Dominance of negative emotions.
• Lack of desire to learn something new, make acquaintances, etc.
• Problems with communication in personal and professional life.
• The appearance of previously unnoticed phobias and fears (often, for example, confined spaces).
• Decreased mental abilities.
• Irritability to noise or laughter.
• Decreased libido, other problems in sexual life.
• Prevalence of feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in many situations.
• The most serious thing is the reluctance to continue life.

Often after therapy, a person for a long time cannot bring himself to visit public places, especially those of an entertainment nature (bars, restaurants, clubs, etc.). This cannot but affect social adaptation. Withdrawal and unsociability are common consequences of depression.

Often, during therapy, people become so accustomed to taking medications that maintain the level of serotonin in the body (antidepressants) that they cannot completely get out of the state of depression on their own. This carries the risk of drug dependence.

The patient’s condition must be monitored even after he is cured, since at any moment he can lose faith in life and stop seeing any prospects, which often leads to thoughts of suicide. According to some studies, about 40% of people who are depressed think about leaving their life. Thus, what will happen if depression is not treated is much more dangerous than its manifestation itself.

Physical consequences

It is well known that a person’s mental state is directly related to a number of physical manifestations. Often such diseases cause a serious blow to the general condition of the patient. These health effects of depression typically affect the brain, heart, and nervous system. Among the most common are the following:

• Risk of developing thrombosis - a depressive state causes an increased release of adrenaline into the blood, which negatively affects the cardiovascular system and often leads to the formation of blood clots.
• Insomnia is a common symptom of depression, which often remains for a long time after treatment.
• Weakening of the immune system - due to a lack of deep sleep, the body does not have time to recover and becomes susceptible to various diseases; this is additionally affected by an excess of stress hormones.
• Reduced pain threshold - the hormone serotonin makes a person less sensitive to pain, its deficiency (as during depression) - on the contrary, reduces the pain threshold, which can even cause causeless pain in various limbs.
• Chronic fatigue is our body’s reaction to the reluctance to do anything, learn something new and live in general.
• Hair loss, brittle nails, and white skin are a consequence of decreased immunity and lack of sleep.

Problems with appearance, especially in women, cause even greater reluctance to change one’s own life in any way, which can either delay the moment of recovery or lead to a relapse after that. They are observed, as a rule, already during the period of depression, but often remain for some time after, until the body has fully recovered from the stress experienced.

Depression is more dangerous for people suffering from any chronic diseases. By the way, they can become an impetus for its development. In such cases, the patient, along with the symptoms of this mental disorder, experiences a more serious manifestation of the symptoms of the corresponding disease. And people in a depressed state tend to neglect taking care of their health, which can negatively affect their physical condition.

A special role should be given to the problem of alcohol or drug addiction, which often develop against the background of depression and then remain with a person for a long time. The false state of good mood that alcohol and drugs cause can be compared to the effect of antidepressants. Medicines treat symptoms, not the cause of the disease, and therefore cannot be considered as the only direction in the treatment of depression.

Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and other types of harmful substances that cause addiction have almost the same effect, but with even greater harm to health. As soon as their effect ceases, the patient again exhibits symptoms of the disorder. I immediately want to stop such a state, which leads a person into an endless circle of taking certain substances and drugs. Addiction is very difficult to treat, especially against the backdrop of an advanced mental illness, so often in such cases, when the patient does seek help or someone from his environment does, hospitalization and a long stay in the hospital are required to fully monitor the progress treatment.

Prevention

The most obvious answer to the question of how to avoid the harmful health effects of depression is to follow your doctor's instructions. But this is where the first problem arises. It takes a lot of strength for most people to even acknowledge the existence of a mental problem. In our society, it is not customary to talk about such things, much less consult a psychotherapist. However, it is precisely these actions that will prevent the disease from progressing to a severe stage.

How depression affects human health has already been described above. The consequences are truly serious. Their occurrence can be avoided only when the person himself is determined to achieve a complete cure. Of course, it will be very difficult to do this without the help of a specialist, family, friends and, last but not least, medications.

People who have overcome this disease are more susceptible to relapses. On this basis, they need to be monitored after completion of treatment. These can be individual psychoanalysis sessions with the attending physician or special support groups. The help of the environment plays an equally important role. Left alone with his thoughts, a person susceptible to developing depression becomes in a dangerous state of helplessness, uselessness, etc.