Everyone experiences highs and lows in their lives and mood their mood can fluctuate. But in some cases mood changes become long-lasting. Impair and debilitating someone’s ability to hold down a job. And also sustain meaningful relationships.
Symptoms of chronic depression:
According to a study done by Raw and colleagues tells that nearly 20% of people will experience major depression at some point in their lives. Depression is a mood disorder and it is characterized by several symptoms. So, find out What are symptoms of severe depression? It includes:
- Deep feelings of sadness
- Reduced interest in enjoyable activities
- Low sexual desire
- Restlessness
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Constant irritability
- Social withdrawal
- Recurrent thoughts of suicide
- Many people with depression also suffer from anxiety
- Distressed
- Unmotivated
- Excessively tired
Symptoms of major depressive disorder with psychotic feature:
Many physiological symptoms are also associated with depression and some of them are:
- Unintentional weight loss
- Insomnia
- Loss of energy
- Slowed movement or speech
What are the main causes of depression?
Depression can really affect a person in the long run. Behavior caused by depression can cause a downfall in a student's academic abilities, disrupt meaningful relationships with loved ones and lead to malnutrition. Major depressive disorder can result from a number of things. It is due to a number of reasons that a complex combination of factors and it includes:
1. Genetics:
People whose first-degree relatives undergo depression are at a higher risk for developing this.
2. Personal life events:
Tragic events such as the death of a family member, loss of a job, divorce, or any other type of stressful occurrence, can increase the chances of depression.
3. Traumatic events:
A traumatic childhood, sexual or psychological abuse, neglect, poverty, and an unhealthy lifestyle or a predisposition to developing depression later on in life.
4. Drugs and medication:
Prescribed medication such as corticosteroids can cause side effects resulting in depression. The abuse of recreational drugs including amphetamines can increase the chances of depression too.
Depression treatment inpatients:
There are different ways to treat depression depending on the severity of the disorder and other circumstances.
1. Medications:
Most antidepressants are available today and they are udes In treatment for depression. They act upon different neurotransmitters in the body. They can rapidly increase the amount of the neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine in the synapse.
For example, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRI is an example of a drug that increases the amount of serotonin in the brain. This is a neurotransmitter associated with happiness.
Prolonged treatment with antidepressants acts to reverse some of the changes induced by chronic stress and Medication for depression side effect also observe. They reboot hippocampal plasticity and increase neurotrophins expression. Antidepressant treatment can also reverse stress-induced changes in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
However to see improvements in symptoms in patients and mice usually takes some weeks after starting the treatment but using these medications is not a long-term solution.
2. Therapies for major depression disorder:
There are different Cures for depression without medication and Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy are the two main types of therapies used to treat depression. They help individuals focus on the present and encourage the regaining of control over mood and functioning.
3. Supportive behavior of loved ones:
However, the best solution is to have support from loved ones to help alleviate feelings of depression. For example, having a sit-down talk with family members to discuss practical solutions to ongoing problems can reduce symptoms of depression. Talking to counselors, receiving advice, and joining therapeutic groups with individuals experiencing similar problems is also the best solution.
4. Non-chemical treatments:
Non-chemical treatments for depression including electroconvulsive shock. It promotes hippocampal plasticity.
So, different treatments may target different regions of the brain to improve symptoms.
Depression effect on brain:
Some Neuroimaging studies reveal that many brain circuits in the human body are deregulated in depression. These circuits' main function is to regulate mood. In our brain, the amygdala is present which is located deep within the brain. The amygdala's function is to process highly salient stimuli such as potential threats and rewards. In the condition of depression, the amygdala is overactive. It gives a response to excessively negative events. So, in turn, the amygdala connects to a set of regions in the brain. So, it gives a response to physiological and behavioral changes. These areas contain the medial prefrontal cortex, the nucleus accumbens, the hippocampus, and the insula.
The hippocampus's function is to store memory. And with the prefrontal cortex, gives responds to stress. Depressed people are more sensitive to stress and causing changes in the physical behavior of the brain. And also cause atrophy of the hippocampus. These physical and behavioral changes in depressed people cause inappropriate responses to stressful events. The medial prefrontal cortex of the brain is involved in regulating the response to emotional stimuli.
What is the function of ketamine therapy in depression?
A drug name ketamine has rapid antidepressant effects in patients with depression. This is because Ketamine blocks a type of synaptic transmission. It Leads to the activation of a number of signaling pathways and also increases neurotrophin expression. These changes at the molecular level may result in increased plasticity in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
Summary:
Education and spreading awareness are key to ending the stigma that occurs in society due to depression. So, the negative stereotype of disgrace or discredit towards individuals experiencing mental illness sets them apart from others. Not only does it hurt the feelings of individuals experiencing depression, but it also causes them to feel like they are not good enough. This must stop.
However, through Depression treatment centers , education, and understanding we can suppress the effects of major depressive disorder. And to create a comfortable environment and understand depression is common and perfectly acceptable in our society.