Severe depression is a painful condition characterized by a depressed, depressed mood.
Many people think that bad mood and depression are almost the same thing. Is it so?
A bad mood is not dangerous to human health, and sometimes it is even useful to evaluate and rethink some moments of life.
Severe depression is a serious mental disorder.
Specialists distinguish three stages of the disease:
- Mild depression. The patient shows a depressed mood, but at the same time he is able to perform the usual actions for him.
- Moderate depression. It is accompanied by a depressed mood, all the usual actions are performed “on the machine”: a person goes to work, returns home, because it is necessary, nothing pleases.
- Severe depression. A person ceases to cope with the usual actions, tasks in everyday life. Everything that was previously done with ease becomes impossible to accomplish. The disease is accompanied by inexplicable longing, boredom, apathy. In simple terms, I don’t want to live, that’s what a deep depression is.
What are the reasons
The reasons are physiological and psychological.
Physiological – this is overwork, cerebrovascular accident, malnutrition, traumatic brain injuries, strokes, absence or irregular sex life, hormonal diseases and disorders, menopause in women, drug and alcohol addiction, impaired activity of the mediator system of the brain.
Deep depression can be caused by such serious ailments as Parkinson’s disease, tuberculosis, diseases of the cardiovascular system, oncology, etc.
Psychological reasons are stresses (death of loved ones, parting with a loved one, loss of work, turmoil in personal life).
Symptoms of Severe Depression
When severe depression is implied, psychological and physiological manifestations are distinguished.
- The complete loss of interest in habitual activities. The future is painted in dark colors, nothing pleases. Man cannot be distracted from sad thoughts. He is constantly immersed in his inner experiences and lives on them.
- Lowering the level of self-esteem to the critical “I can’t do anything, I’m not good for anything”, “no one loves”, “yes, a lifelong loser”.
- The feeling of constant inexplicable guilt – “I do everything wrong.” Having done nothing wrong, the patient considers himself guilty of all mortal sins, not only before himself, but also before the people around him.
- Sadness and apathy are also symptoms. A similar melancholic surge occurs suddenly, causing despair, and, as a result, the patient experiences feelings of hopelessness, meaninglessness of further existence. At this point, there is an increased risk of suicide.
- Increased anxiety – panic sharply arises, a person begins to be afraid of his own shadow, dislike for people appears, fear of communication or the commission of previously familiar actions, phobias.
- Increased forgetfulness and decreased concentration are vivid symptoms. With depression, the concentration of attention decreases, the person becomes forgetful and lost, can not concentrate on basic things.
- Sharp mood swings. They are characterized by sharp bursts from a state of complete euphoria to “everything is gone.”
- Suicidal tendency – a person is embraced by a sense of hopelessness; in suicide, he sees a way out of this situation. Such emotional outbursts in a patient should be taken very seriously. Fortunately, few can decide on such a fatal step.
- Violation of night sleep – is diagnosed in 100% of cases of the disease. Sleep disturbance has its own distinctive features. When falling asleep, the patient cannot fall asleep for a long time, all kinds of thoughts worry him. The depth of sleep is also disturbed. At night, a person wakes up several times, and waking up, can no longer fall asleep. As a result, he does not get enough sleep, experiences constant drowsiness. As a result, working capacity decreases, irritability grows. Another extreme may occur – prolonged sleep (hypersomnia), which can last for 14-18 hours. Even after such a long sleep, a person feels overwhelmed.
- Disorder of appetite – in severe depression, a decrease in appetite occurs. Very often, patients lose weight, food seems to them tasteless, does not cause aesthetic pleasure. Sometimes there is another extreme, when a person begins to “seize” stress, but at the same time also does not get pleasure from eating.
- Chronic fatigue – there is a feeling of “inhibition”, quick fatigue, physical weakness. It may seem to others that a person is simply too lazy to do work, pretends. The patient is ready to spend the whole day in bed. Oddly enough, this manifests itself, oddly enough, in the morning, when the peak of longing, apathy is highest. By evening, the patient a little “lets go.”
- Panic attacks. Such signs begin unexpectedly, accompanied by a rapid heartbeat, tingling in the fingers and toes, in the area of the heart, increased sweating, and the feeling that something terrible will happen now. Sometimes the condition can lead to dizziness, fainting. These manifestations may be characteristic of other diseases.
- When there is deep depression, sexual dysfunction occurs at the physiological level, regardless of the patient’s consciousness. In a state of depression, even very loving couples and partners cannot explain the reason for the fall in mutual attraction, which can lead to a quarrel between close people. In this case, you must be tolerant of your own person.
If a person has more than 4 of the described symptoms for more than 2 weeks, in all likelihood he is on the verge of or has already entered a state of deep stress. As a rule, the patient does not think that he is sick and needs qualified help.
Here, an important role is played by loved ones. They must unobtrusively help a person overcome a disease.
Hushing up an ailment is very dangerous for health; it can develop into a serious mental illness.
Conclusion
Severe depression is a complex mental disorder that requires the advice of a therapist.
The treatment for severe depression is quite lengthy and requires patience. Success depends, first of all, on a person’s desire to get rid of obsessive depression.
Deep depression can be treated comprehensively, that is, with the use of medications (the most advanced cases) and psychological techniques. In any case, consult a doctor, and do not self-medicate.