How to Know if You Are Depressed? – 12 Surprising Signs of Depression

In today’s fast-paced world, health issues have become oblivious to people as they have absolutely no time to even stop for a moment, and examine themselves. When it comes to physical health, your body has its own mechanisms to let you know that it needs help.

What about your mental health? Does your mind communicate with you? Yes, it certainly does. We choose to ignore it, as most of us don’t understand the value of being mentally content and healthy.

If you’re feeling low or frustrated all the time, look into it. Do not listen to those who tell you to “Keep yourself busy”. Here’s why!

Depression is one of the prominent forms of mental illness existent in the world today. The rates of increase of this illness are alarmingly high, over the last decade.

If a person is depressed, there is a fair chance that he/she may not even know it in the initial stages, as this is not an illness that comes with side effects. If we fail to understand what is going on inside our head, it may lead to a stage of clinical depression which is very hard to come out of.

See: How to remain Hydrated in summers

Here are 12 surprising signs of depression that will help you decide.

1. Anti-social nature – Going out, meeting friends/family, reunions etc. are considered a burden, rather than an opportunity to socialize. You might prefer staying home, being by yourself over interacting with peers.
2. Inclination towards alcohol/drugs – You find yourself in a position where you only feel good when you are in any form of intoxication such as alcohol, drugs or smoking tobacco. This means that you have lost the ability to make yourself happy and that you need some sort of external force to do the job.
3. Distancing oneself from loved ones: Being relatives, friends or relationships one may find themselves repelling all sorts of human contact, which may be a sign of depression. You will not open up to anyone and be a closed book, hard to crack.
4. Feeling responsible for everything – You feel like everything that went wrong in your life is your fault, and regret everything that happened to you, even if it wasn’t your wrongdoing.
5. Questioning your existence: You feel like there isn’t any point of you being in this world, and ask yourself “What is the purpose of me staying when the world will be better off without me?” .These kinds of thoughts are extremely dangerous and needed to be shared with others.
6. Loss of Interest – You seem uninterested in almost everything, and cannot concentrate on your studies or work.
7. Sleep pattern – You seem very restless when you sleep or have a complete lack of sleep (insomnia)
8. Feeling tired all the time – Extreme cases of fatigue are observed in your body, and your average energy limit per day is much lower than what it used to be.
9. Significant weight loss/gain –The body responds to mental depression through significant loss/gain in body mass, which is something you need to keep track of.
10. Appetite Loss/Gain – You will either tend to overeat, or you will completely lose the will and appetite to indulge food.
11. Severe Mood swings –Your mood is never stable. It oscillates back and forth, and you hear this from your peers and family way too many times.
12. General discontent – Hopelessness is always present and your mind is not content with the way things are. This makes you anxious and frustrated very often.

Watch out for these subtle signs of depression.

Improvement of our mental health depends on how much we dedicate effort to understanding how we function on a daily basis.

[su_posts posts_per_page=”5″ order=”desc”]

5 years ago Health , Mental Health No comment

5 Simple Things I did to Overcome my Shyness and Social Anxiety

It is hard to forget the awkward feeling and the heart thumping moment when you have to address a group of people or a big crowd or even approach someone. The anxiety you feel in social situations is something most of the people can relate to, that feeling of shyness tends to hold people back from participating in social situations. However, there are ways to overcome this shyness and become confident.

5 Ways to Overcome Shyness & Social Anxiety

1. Root of shyness:

It is important to understand the root of your shyness. The reason why you tend to get embarrassed when the spotlight is on you. It may be due to weak self-image or you are preoccupied with how u come off to people or you have been tagged as shy or any other reason. It is important to know them and work on them.

The negative or self-evaluating thoughts tend to make you feel low about yourself or you spend too much time thinking about perfect you have to be in front of people or what they might think of you, focusing too much on yourself.

Start focusing on others, divert your mental attention elsewhere. When we stop focusing on ourselves we tend to think less as to how we come off in front of people. It’s all in the mind. Negative or positive thoughts, it’s all up to you. It’s all about thinking and that’s something you can definitely control.

1. Act Confidently:

Be confident while you interact with people. Display a confident body language while doing the same. Make eye contact while talking, walk with head held high. Confident body language can do wonders to boost your moral. It might take a while to develop but again Rome was not built in a day. It will take practice but eventually, you will gain confidence. Don not avoid interactions or participation, interact with people, it will help you develop your confidence and overcome your anxiety.

1. Know Your Strengths:

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It is important to know and accept them. Find your strength and focus on it. Knowing what you are good at helps boosting your self-esteem and helps your confidence grow. Think about your positive qualities when you feel low or insecure. Your strengths will make you feel good about yourself. They can give

1. Visualize:

Visualize yourself as a confident person. Think of a situation and visualize yourself as a confident person in that situation. Think about how you feel? What do you sound like? What do you see? Try to involve all your senses when you do it to make it feel real. Try it for different situations.

1. Try new things:

Try new things even if they make you anxious. Move out of your comfort zone. Fear of failure refrain’s us from trying new things. Getting yourself in these uncomfortable situations helps you reduce your fear towards those situations. Facing our fears is better than avoiding them and sometimes it better to stare it down. By doing these things you overcome your fear of unknown things and it helps you grow. Every social situation you get into is a test of your social skills, the more you do it, better you get at it.

[su_posts]

5 years ago Mental Health No comment

Mental Depression: Symptoms and treatments

Depression, or depressive disorder, is a mental health condition which is an uncontrollable feeling of sadness isolation and also affects the person’s thoughts, feelings and mental functions. This condition abruptly impedes with the person’s routine life and induces the thoughts of suicide. Depression is in the same as sadness or loneliness or grief feeling, it’s a serious illness caused by changes in the brain chemistry.

Men & women of every age, educational level, social & economic background suffer from depression. One an episode of depression Occurs, it is also likely to recur. The impact of depression can be more severe when it is accompanied by other medical illness like diabetes, stroke, or cardiovascular diseases, or related disorders like anxiety or substance abuse.

There are several different subtypes of depression including

• Major depressive disorder
• Dysthymia & chronic depression (Persistent)
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Psychotic depression
• Bipolar depression

Symptoms

Depression commonly affects your thoughts, emotions, behaviours and overall mental and physical wellness. Here are some of the common symptoms that helps you to identify the disorder.

 

 

• Depressed mood
• Reduced interest or pleasure in activities previously enjoyed, loss of sexual desire.
• Un intensional weight loss or low appetite.
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Insomniac(difficulty in sleeping) or hypersomnia (over sleeping)
• Psychomotor agitation or retardation.
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt. Worsened ability to think, concentrate or make decision.
• Hallucinations ( seeing or hearing things that aren’t really there)
• Delusions (irrational thoughts, falls belief, fears)
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or attempt at suicide.

Treatment

Depression is a treatable mental illness, the components to the management of depression or support, psychotherapy and drug treatment (anti depressants).

Psychotherapy

This treatment is also called as talk therapy, because you interact with the trained mental professional.

There are several types of psychotherapy but they have the same goal-to understand the causes of depression, help you feel better and teach you the ways to handle the conditions and gives you relaxation.

• Individual therapy involves just you and a therapist
• Group therapy involves two or more other patients
• Couples therapy helps the other one to understand your depression
• Family therapy helps your loved ones how depressed you are, how it affects you and the can support you.

Therapist uses these sort of  ways to approach & help you .

 

Anti depressants

Anti depressants are popular treatment choices for depression. They may not cure depression but the reduce the symptoms.

Types of Anti depressants

Some brain chemicals associated with depression are serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. Most anti depressants relive these neurotransmitters.

Each works out in different ways.

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
• Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

7 years ago LifeStyle , Mental Health No comment

Stress-the silent killer

Did you know that stress is actually an important part of human evolution, and it helped our ancestor survive? The release of adrenaline brought about by an impending attack from a large carnivorous animal, for example, helped our ancestor prepare for fight or flight, and this kind of stress still benefit us today. But the Modern World has brought about continuous stressors our bodies weren’t made to respond to.

Types of Stress

1. Acute Stress –

It is short – term stress brought about by specific events you must react to. It can be helpful, motivational force and it can be thrilling in small doses (eustress), but too much is exhausting (distress). For example, riding a Roller Coaster, taking a test, dodging a car accident, asking for a raise etc.

2. Chronic Stress –

It is long – term distress caused by repeated stressor. Chronic stress can become such a routine part of life that sufferers stop noticing it and accept it as normal. For example, an overly demanding job, an unhappy home life, prolonged financial problems, difficulty in school etc.

Chronic Stress is more dangerous than Acute Stress.

The Effects of Chronic Stress

Without any relief or relaxation, can lead to –

1. Headaches
2. Upset Stomach
3. Chest Pains
4. Increased Blood Pressure
5. Sleep Loss

Risk Factor of Stress

1. Heart Disease by 40%
2. Heart Attack by 25%
3. Stroke by 50%
4. Changes in Digestion
5. Increased Heart Beating Rates
6. Increased Blood Sugar Level
7. Increased (Exhale) Breath Rate

The Relaxation Response –

It is a state of deep rest designed to change your physical and emotional responses to stress. Benefits of Relaxation are –

1. Lowers Blood Pressure
2. Slow your Breathing Rate
3. Increases Blood Flow to muscles
4. Boosts Memory
5. Boosts Confidence
6. Reduces Muscles Tension
7. Improves Mood and Concentration
8. Reduces Fatigue

Methods to De-Stress –

1. Meditation – elicits the relaxation response and strengthens your mind against stress.
2. Deep Breathing – slows heart rate and lowers blood pressure.
3. Decompress and reduce muscle tension
4. Get active
5. Hearty Laughter
6. Be grateful

Food that Reduces Stress

1. Blueberries
2. Nuts & Seeds
3. Turkey
4. Leafy Greens
5. Avocado
6. Lemon Balm Tea
7. Salmon
8. Dark Chocolate
9. Oranges
10. Sweet Potatoes

7 years ago Health , LifeStyle , Mental Health 1 comment

Mental Depression- Treatment

Mental Depression- Treatment:

A significant progress has been made during the last decade of twentieth century regarding the treatment of depression.

Drug Treatment:

Drugs have been used to treat depressive disorders for over three decades, with considerable effectiveness. Various studies suggest that 60-70 % of depressed adults are helped by antidepressant medications. Typically, antidepressants bring about various therapeutic effects like brightening mood, improved sleep and increased energy level. All this positive modification in the patient virtually leads to minimize the depression within.

Electro-convulsive therapy

Electro-convulsive therapy:

E.C.T. can be used in the cases of severe depression. Though, the precautions now being taken have eliminated most of the side effects of E.C.T., however, memory disorientation and memory loss are still common. Therefore, it’s use is recommended only when other options of intervention are closed.

Be social and cheerful

Psychotherapy

Although, drugs are important aspect of treatment for depression, medication alone doesn’t address the social, emotional or personality factors that may also underlie patient’s problem. Therefore, psychotherapy that emphasizes psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive or interpersonal approach are used to treat adults with depression.

Dance- reduce depression

A Final Say- Why depressed? Say Cheese!

Life is like a cricket match. You are there on the pitch with a bat in hand. Stadium full on! But the game is a bit different. There don’t lie a wicket, nor a fielder who could take you a catch. Just a ball comes out of the darkness and you have to make a strike. This ball is just like an opportunity. If you make a strike, you won that opportunity, if not, it’s missed! No worries! Another ball comes and again another one innumerable times. What if this opportunity is missed! Of course life gives another ball with different pace and so on. Its only you who could make yourself out of this game. Don’t decide to quit. Play it…..enjoy it. Wont this life become monotonous and boring without problems. Challenge them….face them….enjoy them. When the UMPIRE declares the inning…….look back and say……wao!…..what a life I have lived. Remember the so many obstacles you faced but still never left the game, rather enjoyed them.

Feel proud…..

enjoy loud !

Love yourself…

Live life….!

7 years ago Health , LifeStyle , Mental Health No comment

Mental Depression – Causes

Causes Of Depression:

Psycho-social causes:

According to Sigmund Freud, the father of psycho-analysis, unresolved conflicts involving relationships with care givers in infancy and childhood leads to depression. Individuals who receive parental overprotection or parental neglect might not be able to develop adequate competencies for coping with various life stresses. This is likely to make them dependent on others as their presence are likely to provide the individual the sense of security. This will make the child hypersensitive in social relationships and also hypersensitive to their losses as the loss might activate in him, the feeling of insecurity and anger. This hostility is internalized leading to depression. The feeling of depression becomes more severe if the person is in some way responsible for the loss. According to Freud, for the people with rigid super-ego i.e. high ego ideal and rigid conscience, if the behavior are not able to match with super-ego expectations, then it is likely to cause moral anxiety and may lead to depression.

 

Bowlby, a Neo-Freudian, gave the concept of attachment to explain the emotional bonding between between the child and his parents. Attachment has two functions- First, it forms the basis for future interpersonal relation; and second is that it provides security to child to explore his environment. All children form attachment which can either be secure or insecure. When the attachment is secure, , the child feels confident to approach others for social support and help. But in the case of insecure attachment, the child doesn’t approach the others for social support as the past experiences of the child informs him that others are not usually available for help. People with insecure attachment are isolated and therefore, because of absence of social support , they feel lonely and depressed.

depressed and sad

Behavioral causes:

To participate in the life events successfully, one needs positive reinforcement. When positive reinforcements are inadequate and punishment is often provided, it is likely that the person will get demotivated and depressed.

Learned helplessness is another cause for depression. The feeling of helplessness or the inability to control the events in the world around, causes response passivity ultimately leading to depression.

Biological causes:

Disturbances in the level or functioning of the three neurotransmitters namely serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are responsible for depression.

Genetic factors also play an important role to make a person more depression prone.

Irregularities in the way neurons fire their messages may also be responsible for these disorders.

7 years ago Health , Mental Health No comment

Mental Depression

Contemporary age is the age of challenges, challenges which are in context to one’s education, one’s profession and one’s interpersonal relations.

About 800,000 people commit suicide worldwide every year, of these 135,000 (17%) are residents of India, a nation with 17.5% of world population. Between 1987 to 2007, the suicide rate increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000, with higher suicide rates in southern and eastern states of India.

 

What can be of a greater context of sorrow that a person reaches a critical point radioactive enough to extinguish his very own existence! These are the extreme cases of mental depression. Multiple times more are the person who lie in the state of severe depression and carry out their livelihood in the similar melancholic fashion. A mental makeover is required to raise out the person going down to the graves on his own will.

Depression is the feeling of extraordinary sadness and dejection. The symptoms include psycho-motor retardation, loss of initiative, pessimistic outlook, feeling of sin/guilt, insomnia or hypersomnia, loss of appetite, loss of self-esteem or development of negative self concept, social withdrawal etc. The person looses interest in almost all the activities and faces difficulty in concentration. Recurrent thoughts of death flash his mind. The most severely depressed people may experience psychotic symptoms including delusion and hallucinations.

Most of the above symptoms must be present all day and nearly everyday for two or more consecutive weeks for diagnosis to be applicable. Most cases of depression clear up even without treatment in a matter of months and the average duration of untreated episode is between 8-10 months. The disorder can begin at any age but the most typical period is mid 20s.

There are several sub-types of depression.

The melancholic types are characterized by early morning awakening, loss of appetite and weight, inappropriate or excessive guilt, psychomotor retardation and severe anhedonia.

Chronic types are those which last for two or more years.

Catatonic cases are characterized by purposeless behavior and the person may stay fixed in bizarre postures. They may mimic every movement someone else has made (echopraxia) or engage in echolalia- a parrot like repetition of other people’s speech.

 

Causes and treatment of depression to be followed in the next blog…………..!