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Hey YCM-kun. When should someone seek medical help for depression?

Catterjune

By Catterjune
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Ярополк Пономарёв Newbie

Ярополк Пономарёв

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Depression can change or distort the way you see yourself, your life, and those around you.[/size][/font]
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People who have depression usually see everything with a more negative attitude, unable to imagine that any problem or situation can be solved in a positive way.[/size][/font]
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Symptoms of depression can include:[/size][/font]
[list]
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Agitation, restlessness, and irritability[/size][/font]
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Dramatic change in appetite, often with weight gain or loss[/size][/font]
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Very difficult to concentrate[/size][/font]
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Fatigue and lack of energy[/size][/font]
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Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness[/size][/font]
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Feelings of worthlessness, self-hate, and guilt[/size][/font]
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Becoming withdrawn or isolated[/size][/font]
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Loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed[/size][/font]
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Thoughts of death or suicide[/size][/font]
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Trouble sleeping or excessive sleeping[/size][/font]
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Depression can appear as anger and discouragement, rather than feelings of sadness.[/size][/font]
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If depression is very severe, there may also be [url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/n/pmh_adam/A001553/"]psychotic[/url] symptoms, such as [url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/n/pmh_adam/A003258/"]hallucinations[/url] and delusions.[/size][/font]
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Source: [url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001941/"]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001941/[/url][/size][/font]

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Dementuo Newbie

Dementuo

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If you're depressed, the either:
1) Stuff your face into a fluffy creature's chest.
2) Spend time with a Terrier dog. They're therapeutic.

OT: Signs of depression... Keeping to themselves, blocking out others, choosing solitude, spending a long time doing something over and over again, spending a long time in a rather dark area, seeming more violent or docile depending on their personality, towards others, being more inactive than they usually are.

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Raine Newbie

Raine

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I don't believe in medical treatment for emotional issues, only in extreme cases where the safety of self or others should medication be involved. ...in my opinion. If your depressed change your life, do something different or move someplace else. Do something. I get depressed from time to time, mostly it s caused by not finding releases for yourself or stress. Sometimes people just need to do things to prove their still alive, which is very rare in this day and age.

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CrabHelmet Newbie

CrabHelmet

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In this topic, clinical depression = being sad, and it can be easily cured by looking at puppies or something.

I love how YCMers insist on posting in every thread that appears regardless of whether they know anything about the topic or not.

Best advice I can give is to go by the [url=http://falseallegations.com/dsm-dprj.htm]DSM-IV[/url] guidelines, though what symptoms can be most easily observed and what action to take depend on whether the subject is yourself or someone else, and if the latter, whether they know (or you want them to know) about your concern or not.

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Tentacruel Newbie

Tentacruel

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The American Way:

Got a problem? Buy my drugs!


But really, if your depression is serious enough where it won't go away and [s]you're an ass and don't have friends[/s] your friends and family haven't been able to help you, then you should probably [s]smoke weed[/s] get medical attention.



Or watch MLP.

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CrabHelmet Newbie

CrabHelmet

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[quote name='Tentacruel' timestamp='1316325157' post='5522342']
Because that's usually what it is. [b]That, or counseling.[/b]
[/quote]
The responses to this thread seem to suggest that YCM doesn't know about the bolded part there. They seem to think seeking professional help for depression means giving up on doing things properly yourself and just turning to drugs to solve your problems for you as an easy way out.

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Cin Newbie

Cin

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My doctor associated me crying with me being depressed, but I think that was more than I was mentally exhausted from poor sleep for 5 weeks (to the point I slept on my back...which I haven't done since I was a baby). It can mean different things to different people, but I found feeling hopeless, even suicidual thoughts and not wanting to face the world for me where my main symptons.

Before seeing a doctor though a therapist or couselling might be the best solution and doctors may refer you on because tablets won't always do the job (believe me I know and really amplify negative feelings for the 1st two weeks, so it will be good to not be alone or even have the tablets left your bedroom). I have to agree spending time around animals is very good for anyone mentally to the point I refered to my dog when I was in counselling as my lifesaver.

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MarbleZone Newbie

MarbleZone

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[quote name='PikaPerson01' timestamp='1316319405' post='5522175']what would you say would be signs/symptoms that someone had depression and they needed to see a doctor or a psychiatrist or whatever?
[/quote]

Like Crab said, DSM-IV is a way. The way the book is structured though, you have to match several duration, description and exception criteria to reach a diagnosis, and even then, the criteria only really fit a certain percentage of cases. There's also CID-10 that could be a little less demanding of a read, but I think neither would do much good. More often than not, if you're not experienced enough to interpret DSM with a case-by-base adaptation (and most doctors outside of the Psychiatry field aren't), you're better off not depending too much on it from a patient perspective.

Best advice I can give, if you start thinking you, or someone you know, needs to see a psychiatrist because of a depression, go through a [i]psychologist [/i]first. If it reached a stage where it required psychiatric intervention, there wouldn't be much room for doubts.

There are many people who handle their depression in counselling sessions exclusively, and don't require a psychiatrist's input in any step of the process. Most of the time, only major depressive disorders need to be followed by a psychiatrist, because of prescriptions. It's actually better if you leave it up to the psychologist to make that bridge between the patient and the hospital if he sees fit, because often it's not necessary to involve medication.

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Cin Newbie

Cin

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Alot of the time the medication may only act as a Placebo, even though it might not produce the chemical reaction the brain really needs. (I like the word Placebo, tricking the mind and/or body into believing its gotten something it needs, but never got given),it can prove addictive as well. Hope to get off mine or start weaning myself of it on Thursday.

A doctor maybe able to suggest the best service to go in terms of any talking therapy. (I got refered to the YMCA who refered me on, best counselling I could have hoped for)

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Catterjune Newbie

Catterjune

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[quote name='Anger Level' timestamp='1316319541' post='5522178']
People who have depression usually see everything with a more negative attitude, unable to imagine that any problem or situation can be solved in a positive way.
[font=inherit][size=3][/quote][/size][/font]
I've never been fond of the textbook definition of depression. Specifically the 'more negative attitude' section. More negative in comparison to... what? How much more negative is considered enough to be declared depression?

Reading over the DSM site Crab linked to, I feel the same way. How much of a diminish is a 'marked' diminish in everyday activities? How 'excessive' is an excessive feeling of hopelessness? How frequent do thoughts of death have to be to be considered 'recurrent'?

I mean, obviously you're gonna say 'In comparison to when you weren't depressed' or something, but what if you don't remember that long ago? Or what if it was a slow gradual process and you can't really tell when it shifted from just being sad to a feeling of hopelessness every single day?

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Mehmani Newbie

Mehmani

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Although the title question is "When should someone seek medical help for depression?", the answer would be to just book a doctor's appointment immediately and tell them your symptoms. They will probably run several tests and you; depending on the conclusion you will know whether you have "Clinical Depression" or not. If you think you have something wrong with you, don't look to Doctor Google for help. Self-diagnosis is almost always wrong unless you are a doctor, a medical student or someone with a passionate interest in medical literature (one sits here with a book by medical writer Ben Goldacre, he recommends [i]Clinical Examination[/i] by Epstein [font=courier new,courier,monospace]et al[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]).[/font][/font]

This option is UK-only because sadly some idiots over the Atlantic don't believe in free healthcare.

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