Depression Treatment

What is depression?

Depression – is a mental disease which is characterized by the disturbance of the mood.

What are the main symptoms of depression?

The most common symptoms of depression include:

• Joyless, depressed condition, loss of pleasure
• Disinterest
• Inability to concentration, amnesia.
• Inability to come to decisions, obsessive return to the same issues.
• Fear (before commonness or vagueness), inner agitation, anxiety.
• A sensation of weariness, lack of the energy.
• Disturbance of sleep
• Lack of appetite, weight loss
• The feeling of weight in the belly or in the chest
• Vegetative symptoms (dry mouth, constipation, sweatiness and so on.)

What can you do if your loved one is suffering from depression?

• You should not ignore or forbid patient complaints
• Do not make trivial or comforting speeches or banal whistlings in the dark.
• Do not try to amuse the sick man.
• Stress the momentary of the depression and offer the hope of its ending.
• Do not call upon the exercise of will by the sick man. Do not tell him: «you should pull yourself together», «you might have do it, if only you want it» etc.
• Do not make the patient feel helpless and guilty.
• Do not call upon such virtues like faith and responsibility.
• May depressed person not take decisions, especially very important.
• Be calmly and confidently with this person.
• Organize independently the doctor’s advice and accompany the patient
• Relieve the patient from his private and official contacts.
• Do not change cardinal patient’s habits
• Do not insist on the patient’s vacation, especially if there are no signs of pronounced depression.
• Show your sympathy and understanding, support the patient in performance of his vital and real tasks.
• Pay patient’s attention to everything what he succeeded to do. At that, do not show triumphal emotions.
• Look after regular patient’s daily routine
• Do not allow patient lie for a long time in the mornings, go to bed early and stay alone.
• Take care that patient look after himself
• Avoid assumed cheerfulness
• Do not reproach and rebuke
• Try to stimulate patient’s breathing
• Do not mention about past patient’s successes
• Do not self-medicate of the patient, ask for psychiatrist’s help.

How to treat depression?

Modern depression treatment includes:

• The use of biological treatment (first of all psychopharmacological medications). The requisite conditions for the effectiveness of the treatment are collaboration with the doctor: strict adherence of ordered therapy, the regular visits to the doctor, a detailed, unconcealed statement about your condition and life difficulties.
• Psychotherapy (individual, group and family) is not an option, but an important complement to the pharmacotherapy of depression. In contrast to pharmacotherapy, the psychotherapy supposed more active patient’s role in the treatment. Psychotherapy helps patients to develop the skills of emotional self-regulation, thus in future they can more effective cope with crisis situations, and not be absorbed in depression.

What usually prevents the treatment of psychotherapeutic help?

• Lack of information by people about what psychotherapy means.
• The fear for devotion a third person in personal, intimate experiences.
• Skeptical attitude that “talks” can provide appreciable curative effect.
• The concept that one need to cope with the psychological difficulties on his own. To call on another person is a sign of weakness.

The assistance of relatives in depression’s overcoming. The support of relatives, even when the patient does not express any interest, is very important in depression’s overcoming. In this connection we can give following pieces of advice to patient’s relatives:

• Remember, that depression – is a disease which need sympathy, but on no accounts you need not be absorbed in a disease together with a patient, sharing his pessimism and despair. It is necessary to keep a certain emotional distance, all the time reminding yourself and the patient, that depression – is a transient emotional state.
• According to studies, depression proceeding negatively especially in those families, where patient gets a lot of censorious remarks. Try to give the patient to understand that his condition – it is not his fault, but misfortune. He is need of help and treatment.
• Try not to focus on disease of your loved one and bring positive emotions in your life and in family’s life. As far as possible, try to involve the patient in some useful activity, but not dismiss him from the work.

Tags: anxiety, biological therapy, disinterest, joyless, overcoming depression, psychotherapy, symptoms