What is Depression?
We all feel sad and down at times, but eventually, we get over it. General sadness is not like depression. Depression is a mood disorder that can sometimes be described as sadness or worthliness. Typically depression can affect your daily life because your feelings of despair can hinder productivity in all facets of your life.
What Are The Symptoms Of Depression?
Because depression might be overlooked as general sadness at times, it’s important to recognize the signs that you or a person you love might be suffering from depression. Here are the common symptoms of depression:
- Sadness lasting for two weeks or more
- Feeling worthless or helpless because you came up short in the past or a present situation
- You’re having trouble sleeping
- There may be times that you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep.
- Other times you may sleep longer than usual and don’t want to get out of bed because you lack motivation
- Chronic fatigue because of your inconsistent sleeping pattern.
- The most mundane task will require you to use up more energy than usual.
- The smallest things make you irritable since your mood has been fluctuating over the last few weeks
- Random crying spells for no reason
- Thoughts of suicide
Causes of Depression
Depression can be caused by a series of things, whether biological or dealing with difficult circumstances. Some causes of depression include:
- Childhood trauma that has affected your growth and development
- Some medical conditions you have could lead to inciting depression
- A history of misusing drugs
- Your genetic background
- If your family has a history of depression, you could be at risk of having a depressive gene
How To Treat Depression
Depression can be challenging to deal with, so finding the right treatment is essential. Although depression is not “curable,” you can manage the symptoms to make your life easier.
Antidepressants are the first line of defense to combat depression. They usually take a few weeks to kick in before you start seeing changes.
Therapy is also a great help when it comes to dealing with depression. But there are also other ways to fight back against it.
At Interpersonal Psychiatry, we have a variety of services to help you manage your depression. We offer:
- Counseling and psychotherapy services
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- This type of therapy enables you recognize the negative thoughts and emotions you’re having and how they affect your behavior
- As you learn about how those negative feelings are affecting your daily life, we teach you techniques to help you manage them
- Psychiatric Medication management to help you in your journey with taking medication for your depression
- Antidepressants help you deal with daily depression
- We won’t just give you your meds and leave you by yourself. We’ll make sure that you’re on a program tailored for you and guide you through the process of taking medication
- Ketamine Infusion Therapy
- This type of therapy will stimulate neuron growth in your brain that will bring about feelings of relaxation and peacefulness