Depression and Anxiety are the most commonly presented problems in my private practice since statistically they most commonly occur in the population.
However, the word depression gets flung around casually even in the absence of an accurate understanding of what it means. Let’s understand what can be categorized as symptoms of depression and what can’t.
Firstly, we have to distinguish between feeling depressed as an emotion or feeling, versus experiencing depression in terms of the diagnosis. One can experience the feeling or emotion of depression without being depressed. The difference between the two is that the emotion or feeling is transient and passes in sometimes. We feel emotions in response to circumstances and our attitudes about them. Emotions we feel are usually in response to something.
The diagnosis of depression, on the other hand, is more complex than the word itself. For someone to receive a diagnosis, there are specific criteria to be met in terms of symptom presence, duration, the intensity which can only be diagnosed by a mental health professional like a psychologist or a psychiatrist. The reason you can’t diagnose yourself, or your friends is simply because the mental health professional has years of training and experience in order to make a clinical judgment. So my suggestion is to seek the assistance of a mental health professional in order to correctly determine your experiences and receive an appropriate treatment plan for it, because you truly deserve that, and don’t deserve to suffer in silence.
Remember, that it is in no way essential for you to have a diagnosable condition in order to require help. In fact, it is beneficial to you if you seek help earlier rather than later once it reached the stage of a full-blown diagnosable condition. In fact, many people will not be categorized as having a “disorder”. Yet, they benefit greatly from seeking treatment in terms of psychotherapy or counseling. Again you deserve this assistance since the aim isn’t just to ensure that you don’t have a “disorder”. The aim is to enable you to help yourself to live your lives to the fullest, in adaptive, non-disturbed, non-distressed ways.
The reason the word “disorder” has been put in quotes, is because I prefer to work from a non-pathologizing perspective myself as a counseling psychologist. However, these diagnoses do have immense value for communication between professionals, for medical professionals to derive the best pharmacological treatment intervention, but they certainly aren’t meant to label and stigmatize! So like we’ve discussed, let’s leave the process of deriving a diagnosis up to the professionals. Yet, here are some indicators you can be mindful of that may indicate a need for further investigation or psychotherapy (remember, to help you live more fully). Changes in mood (sad, empty), from previous moods, or rapid changes in mood often, irritability, feeling snappy, guilt, changes in food intake, appetite whether an increase or decrease, unintentional fluctuations in weight either increase or decrease, changes in sleep- sleeping more than usual, or inability to sleep as before, fatigue, lethargy, other unexplained physiological symptoms, thoughts, plans of ending one’s life, feeling hopeless, helpless, worthless, questioning the meaning of life, lack of interest or pleasure in previously pleasurable activities, difficulties in memory or concentration and social withdrawal. Remember these are just indicators you may benefit from some assistance.
Please read the next blog on “Depression treatment” or “treatment for depressive symptoms” to understand possible interventions and therapeutic strategies to choose from.
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