Depressed Spirits And Major Depressive Disorder

Everyone gets depressed. When bad things happen in life, we naturally become a little down emotionally. Losing people close to us, permanently or temporarily is painful. When work is stressful or when expectations are too high, we can tend to shut down and shut out the world. When we do not perform to others’ expectations, or to our own expectations for ourselves, that lack of performance can also cause some feelings of guilt and sadness. Not all cases of depression must be treated. It is inevitable for people to feel sad. The danger comes when that sadness does not ever lift.

Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder
The most significant symptom of depression that requires treatment is the length of time that the symptoms exist. You probably do not have a disorder if you do not experience several depressive symptoms that last for two weeks or longer. Even having one or two symptoms for that duration does not necessarily signal a serious problem. The following are potential symptoms of major depressive disorder:

1. You feel depressed. Obviously, to potentially have a depressive disorder, you will feel sad and down.
2. You don’t enjoy things that you have always enjoyed. Depression can take all of the pleasure out of enjoyable activities and company.
3. You notice a great change in appetite and weight. Sometimes depression will lead a person to lose all interest in eating. Sometimes a depressed person will try to use food to satisfy their empty feeling.
4. You do not sleep an appropriate amount. Too much sleeping can dull the pain of depression, but sometimes the sadness is too severe to allow for much sleeping at all.
5. Others are noticing changes in you. If you are not able to hide your feelings, chances are that the depression is taking over.
6. You are excessively tired.
7. You feel worthless or guilty. The combination of symptoms can lead a depressed person to feel very negatively about themselves and their ability to perform.
8. You cannot concentrate or make decisions.
9. You have thoughts of death and suicide.

More than half of the above symptoms will be present in a person with major depressive disorder. Again, these symptoms will be present for more than two weeks at a time and there will be no apparent cause. If a person knows why he or she is sad, then they probably do not have major depressive disorder. If the symptoms are affecting daily activities and routines, psychiatric help is in order.

Different Faces of Depression
It is difficult to say how a person with major depressive disorder will be treated. Depression takes many different forms, even though the symptoms tend to be contained in those listed above. Sometimes there are psychotic tendencies that go along with the depression. Sometimes feelings of the person will be only sad, but sometimes they will lift, depending on circumstances. Sometimes, depression only hits a person at certain seasons of the year or in certain seasons of life. Depending on these things, treatments will vary. The good news is that there are treatments for major depressive disorder.

Frances, Allen MD and First, Michael B. MD. Your Mental Health: A Layman’s Guide to
the Psychiatrist’s Bible. New York: Scribner, 1998.

• A Psychiatrist And Mental Illness
• A Step Toward Substance Abuse Can Lead To A Deep Hole Of Addiction
• A World Full Of Phobias
• All Children Are Different, But What Differences Are Normal? (information About Mental Retardation)
• Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Avoidant Personality Disorder
• Being Anxious Over Everything And Nothing
• Being Well Adjusted To Life May Involve Some Struggles
• Bipolar Disorders Are Difficult To Diagnose
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Cognitive Loss
• Common Illnesses That Psychiatrist Treat
• Coping With Physical Illness
• Defining The Science Of Psychiatry
• Dependent Personality Disorder
• Depressed Spirits And Major Depressive Disorder
• Fear And The Physical
• Fearing Fear Itself
• First Psychiatric Medications And Treatments
• Food And Thoughts: Does One Control The Other?
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Gratifying Impulses
• Has Psychiatry Gone Too Far? Has It Gone Far Enough?
• Histrionic Personality Disorder
• How Psychiatry Methods Evolved Over Time From Force To Healing
• Important Facts Regarding Psychiatry And Mental Illness
• Money Matters In Psychiatry
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder
• Paranoid Personality Disorder
• Playing The School Game When It’s Hard
• Preparing A Life For Autism
• Psychiatric Malpractice And Standard Of Care
• Psychiatric Organizations And Their Contributions
• The Onset Of Dementia
• The Psychological Interacting With The Physical
• The Top Schools In Psychiatry
• The Truth About Obsessions And Compulsions
• Top Ten Misconceptions About Psychiatric Disorders
• Treatable Depression
• Treating Bipolar Disorder
• What Is Cognition?
• What Is Psychiatry?
• When Acting Out Is Serious
• When Personality Isn’t Personal
• When Reality Isn’t Real
• When Sleep Goes Wrong
• Who Is “i”?
• Who Was Freud?
• Psychiatric Treatments And Support
• Psychoanalysis And The Need For More Scientific Psychiatry
• Reason Behind The Madness
• Schizoid And Schizotypal Personality Disorders
• Self-diagnosis And Treatment Of Psychiatric Conditions
• The Aftermath Of Trauma
• The Beauty Of Sleeping
• The Beginnings Of Psychiatry
• The Controversy In The Classroom: Adhd Diagnosis
• The Importance Of Recognizing Psychiatric Issues
• The Majors And ‘minors’ Of Depression
• The Need For Psychiatrists In The Military