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  • Depression Self-Help

    One of the problems that affect us humans is a state of mind referred to as a depression.

    Exactly what is depression?

    Why do we suddenly find ourselves stuck in a sea of inertia, unable to think positively, unable to hold on to positive thoughts, frozen in a zombie-like state of inactivity?

    Even experts disagree on the core causes of depression and the methods of treatment. Should they be palliative or something more uncompromising?

    This is of course no help to us if we are immersed in the thickening fog of a bout of depression.

    If we ever find ourselves in a state of depression we must find and build from within the strength, the motivation, the wish and the will to conquer this debilitating mindset.

    First of all we have to accept that we alone allowed ourselves to drift into this parlous way of thinking.

    The trigger could have been any one of a million reasons and may well have been an external event over which we had no control, however, the antidote has to be found within us and is under our control.

    The first thing we need to understand is that we are not alone.

    Read the newspapers and watch TV and over and over again there are accounts of people we would probably regard as ’having everything’ checking themselves into this or that clinic for help with some problem or other.

    What for one person may be simply a mild setback can for another become the trigger which then sets off the internal self-defeating process of the ‘poor me’ syndrome.

    Why is it that a situation which is a mild irritation for one person can lead another to almost suicidal tendencies?

    The answer is that we are all different in some way.

    A visit to one of the many websites offering behavioural profiling services will help you to identify your personal style as the first step to better understanding yourself

    Once you understand why you react the way you do to certain situations you may then set about arranging your life so as to avoid those situations in the future or at least be better prepared to handle them when they do confront you.

    Understanding yourself and why you react the way you do to situations with which you are faced is a prime initial requisite for self-help with depression.

    Learning, understanding and accepting that we can control what we allow to be accepted as fact by our brain is the next step. So often an initial perception turns out to be inaccurate. Generally speaking, nothing is ever so bad or, as good as it may at first appear.

    What is important is to understand that it is possible for us to move to a position where we take preventative steps to ensure that we stay clear of infectious negative thoughts in the future.

    Negative thoughts are the seed pearls of depression. These negative thoughts and internal video recordings of past failures and disappointments clog up our brains. They lay there dormant just waiting for the right set of circumstances to explode into action and cloud our thinking.

    The late Dr Hall, a clinical psychologist of international renown devoted his life to helping people understand who they were and then encouraging them to take the necessary steps to become who they really wanted to be.

    Doctor George Hall discovered that it is possible to install a brain filter which stops negatives from being accepted by the brain. Just as we may install a virus checker or a firewall on our PC or Laptop we can install the same preventative systems in our brain.

    Dr. Hall developed a personal development course called ‘Human Cybernetics’ it was a blueprint to follow for those who really did want to self-improve and fully develop their potential in life.

    I was privileged to be a student of Dr Hall in 1975 and the tutorials he led were life-changing for those of us fortunate enough to be exposed to his teachings.

    Dangerous self-talk and replaying internal tapes of past failures and disappointments he always propounded to be the most debilitating of activities a human being could engage in as this activity served only to reinforce a negative self-image.

    Negative self-talk must immediately be replaced by constructive self-talk and optimistic visual imaginings. Those negative tapes and videos in the mind must be deleted and recorded over with new images of success and achievement.

    There are many self-help courses available today. Try running a search on personal development or something similar and you will find many, many sites offering help and assistance much of which is free of charge.

    There are also sites offering self-awareness questionnaires which are designed to help you focus on any deep-seated negatives which may be holding you back from achieving your life dreams.

    This may then be used by you as a platform from which to launch your new beginnings.

    Self-help for depression is all about taking that first step to control your future thoughts and activity.

    Decide today to take charge of your life and to live it as you want to and not as others would have you live it.

    Whatever you do, do it for you!

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  • Depression: Sad Because Of Winter

    Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is a kind of depression caused by the effect of the change of seasons as early as August or September in men and women and may be recognized by things as simple as eating or sleeping more during winter than the rest of the year.

    The National Institute of Health realized about this disorder during the 1970s although it has existed for centuries. This entity realized SAD after have asked people if they noticed they were eating and sleeping more over winter.

    Experts and new research discovered that the best way to fight this disorder is to add cognitive behaviour therapy or “talk therapy” to the mix of using anti-depressant drugs and light therapy, the traditional approaches to treat SAD.

    SAD symptoms are not only winter blues and subtle changes in eating and sleeping but also cravings for sweets and starches, fatigue, irritability, social withdrawal and depression, changes which disappear during spring and summer.

    Although there are many theories about SAD, experts highlight that the production of melatonin, a sleep hormone related to depression, may increase over winter. Meanwhile, the amount of serotonin, which is a brain chemical triggered by sunlight, is thought to increase with the lack of sunlight.

    As there is evidence that light intensity and temperature also may play a role in developing SAD the related depression can vary. It is also known that the percentage of people with affective disorder increases with increasing latitude, as shorter days seem to trigger symptoms.

    There exist several ways to treat SAD and experts think that the first approach should be light therapy. But patients with seasonal depression may respond better to treatment when the therapy is combined with medication.

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  • Depression Q&a: Common Kinds Of Depression

    * What is Depression?

    Depression is a disorder, engaged in a person’s body, mood and thoughts. It can influence and interrupts eating, sleeping or judging manner. It is different from unhappiness or a “down” feeling. It is also not an indication of personal flaws or a condition that can be motivated or wanted away.

    Persons with this disorder cannot just gather themselves together and get well. Usually, treatment is important and significantly vital to healing.

    * Are there different types of depression?

    Yes, there are actually three primary types of depression. Most of these are established by how ominous the signs are. They are:

    •Major depression – This is the most serious type of mood disorder based on the number of signs and austerity of symptoms. It has become a severe health disorder and significant health concern in this country.

    •Manic depression – This type involves both high and low mood swings. It also indicates other major symptoms not found in other depression types.

    •Dysthymia depression – identifies the low to moderate level of depression that continues for about two years and sometimes longer. Though the symptoms are not as serious as a major depression, they more lasting and defiant to healing. People with this type develop a major depression for a moment when depressed.

    * What is major depression?

    This is the most serious type of depression. More symptoms found in this depression are usually severe and serious.

    Sometimes, it can be an effect of a particularly disturbing incident in your life or it may develop gradually because of various personal frustrations and life struggles. Some people seem to develop the signs of major depression with no apparent life problems.

    Major depression can happen once, because of major emotional trauma, react to healing, and will not happen again as long as you live. This is normally what they called a “single episode depression”.

    Some people are inclined to have habitual depression, with events of depression followed by periods of a number of years without depression, followed by another one, typically in reaction to another distress. This would be continuing depression.

    Usually, the healing is similar, but that healing normally is over a longer period for continuing depression.

    * What is Post-partum depression?

    Postpartum depression can vary from temporary “blues” following childbirth to serious, unbearable and emotional depression.

    Postpartum depression signs are just the same as those experienced by other depressives, involving desperate belief, feelings of despair, low self-confidence, and constant fatigue and mood changes.

    It can be healed successfully as long as the mother and her support group identify the warning symptoms and examine them with considerate clinical experts. While some psychological occurrences and depressive feelings might be completely normal, constant feelings of unimportance or disparate views are not.

    The secret to healing is to be honest with what you feel during each postpartum meeting with your physician.

    * What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

    Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder felt by most people during the Winter months. It is characterized by seasonal depression, the “down” feeling, a longing to sleep for too long and a habitual desire for starchier foods.

    The signs of SAD normally start in the late Fall when there is already less daytime. It may not start to subside until late winter or spring.

    Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder include:

    •Symptoms such as unnecessary eating and sleeping, and weight increase normally take place during the Fall or Winter months.
    •Complete reduction from despair happens in the Spring and Summer months.

    •Indications have taken place in the past two years, with no seasonal depression episodes.

    •Seasonal episodes considerably outnumber no seasonal depression episodes.

    •There is a longing for sweet and starchy foods.

    * What is bipolar depression?

    Bipolar depression, also identified as manic depression, is categorized as a type of affective disorder or mood disorder that happens during life’s normal difficulties. It can become a severe clinical condition. It is a significant health concern in the United States. This is distinguished by irregular episodes of acute excitement, elevated mood, or bad temper (also referred to as mania) as opposed to episodic, common depressive signs.

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  • Depression Natural Treatment

    Man is the social animal who has come with his own development. He has come to this phase with his own thoughts and ideas. He not only got compensation for his progress but also got some of the negative aspects like he was exposed to many diseases that came in the way of his progression. One among them is this depression. This is a curable disease and can get treated as early as possible at its early stage. It has a natural and herbal remedy.

    Depression is one of the diseases and an anxiety disorder that attacks especially the adult population. No matter what the age is or where we are from. Depression is a mental disorder that prevails in the person and may attack at any moment. Here in this condition, he undergoes a mental disorder that affects his mood. In this situation, he has abnormal feelings or normal feelings, which fall in the category of calm and deep which in turn makes him to get or fell into the attack of this disease.

    If a person gets deeply attacked with this disease then he is away from performing his daily activities or he is away from his normal life and this can be considered the symptoms of the depressive order. This in turn leads to personality disorder and a lack of self-improvement.

    When the man gets this at the initial stage then it is just sadness and gloom. But this must not go deeper as he will become abnormal in his daily activities. So, he should get treated at its initial stage. He may get upset about the small things but these should not contribute as a major part of his depression disease. Now there is good news for this disease that it can be cured with the proper treatment given by the physician whom you consult for the treatment.

    The cause for this depression is not found exactly. In the previous days, the main cause was that the man was disturbed by his thoughts and emotions. But for this, there are many factors and it may depend on any of these factors like biological, environmental or genetic also. It can also occur when a person is affected by chronic diseases that take some period to get cured. There is a chance of getting affected with this disease when the medication does not cure the affected disease.

    One can say that he is affected by this disease when he has these signs like tension, sadness, lack of interest in new things or habits or daily activities, feeling tired unnecessarily, inactive in what he does, unable to concentrate, feeling guilty about himself, attempts or thinks about suicide.

    A person can come out of this depression with the regular intake of the medications which are prescribed by the physician that may be natural or herbal. The patient may also undergo counselling if needed. It is better to turn your attention towards natural or herbal treatments as they don’t have any side effects on you. The disease can be cured by remedies that are natural so that they don’t harm you and cures you as soon as possible.

    The primary thing you can do is you can consult the doctor as early as possible. The checkups that are needed should be regularly as it should be narrowed at their first stage. Keeping oneself with enthusiasm and being away from tiredness. To have confidence in doing the works which are daily activities or others. This depression can be helped when we encourage people active in their work and thinking. He should have a loving atmosphere that can cure the disease.

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  • Depression: Medication May Cause Sexual Side Effects

    When you think about the side effects of the medication you may think of headaches or some stomach disorders, but you never thought about sexual problems, because for some it is too much when you have depression.

    Under an article published in the journal Psychiatric Annals, at least 50 per cent of people that take antidepressants in the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may experience sexual side effects, such as inability to become aroused and difficulty achieving orgasm.

    The reported incidence of sexual dysfunction (SD) with different antidepressants, for instance, varies quite markedly, due in part to the methodologies used for collecting such information.

    Researchers of a recently published study, in which patients received newer antidepressants, note that the reported incidence of sexual side effects in the product labelling for the new medication is around 15 per cent, but when asked directly, up to 70 per cent of patients report SD.

    The cause of this problem is not really clear yet, but if you were diagnosed to take antidepressants for your depression and you have experienced sexual side effects as the above mentioned, be sure to tell your doctor about it.

    The importance of doing this is that your doctor may adjust your medication regimen or change your medication if it is possible, so you will be able to continue taking the antidepressant needed without sacrificing your sexual pleasure and activity.

    This matter, however, is not as simple as seems at first sight, since depressed patients with sexual dysfunctions caused by their medication lead them to non-compliance with antidepressant pharmacotherapy which may also complicate their depression state.

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  • Depression Is A Real Illness

    Because most people get depressed from time to time, there is that eternal question if depression is a real illness. The answer is: yes. The clinical one, that is. It has been said that about one out of eight United States residents will likely become clinically depressed. Some experience it once in a lifetime, while others have multiple episodes. This is a fact: if a person gets depressed for the first time, there is a 50 per cent chance that he will fall to the same predicament again. And come the second time, there is the threat that he will go into a third depressing episode.

    Depression is a real illness as it involves the mental, emotional and even physical faculties of the person. It is not just a transient sad feeling that will go away when one will it to. There are symptoms and signs as well as corresponding treatment. If not handled properly and immediately, it may escalate to worse conditions. Like any other illness, depression has also variations.

    There are three types of depressive disorders: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and dysthymic disorder.

    Major depression is a culmination of all the symptoms and signs that intervene with one’s capability to act normally. It can happen once, but recurring episodes are possible.

    Its less severe counterpart is dysthymia which is characterized by the same symptoms of major depression, only they do not totally interfere with one’s activities. A person who has dysthymic disorder can suffer major depression sometime during his life.

    Bipolar disorder is also a type of depression that involves drastic mood changes, from being very high one minute to severely depressed the next. The manic cycle can make the person hyper and overenthusiastic but it changes as soon as the depressed cycle hits. The depressed cycle encompasses all the symptoms of depression.

    Because depression is an illness, there are symptoms. Again, they are the following:

    1. Persistent “empty” feeling

    2. Unbelievable hopelessness

    3. Feeling guilty and worthless all the time

    4. Lack or loss of interest in activities that used to bring joy to the patient and this includes sex.

    5. Prominent fatigue

    6. Has a difficult time making decisions

    7. Development of sleep problems

    8. Loss of appetite and drastic weight change or loss

    9. Suicidal attempts and thoughts.

    10. Pronounced irritability

    11. Physical aches and pains that have no physiological basis

    The good news is at the end of this dark tunnel called depression, there is hope. Treatment is available in three types: psychotherapy, antidepressant medicine and a combination of the two. There are also times when electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and light therapy are employed. We will discuss these in depth in an upcoming article.

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  • Depression Is An Equal Opportunity Condition

    Depression is a serious medical condition that can affect anyone. Men, women and children are all susceptible to this disease which can have devastating effects on someone’s daily life. Depression can come on suddenly, for no reason, or it might follow a traumatic experience such as a death or some other traumatic experience.

    Symptoms of depression can interfere with a person’s ability to work, sleep, study and enjoy life in a fruitful way. If you find that these symptoms persist for more than a few weeks you should discuss it with your doctor. The symptoms to look for include: sadness, irritability, no interest in hobbies and activities which once were loved, hopelessness, problems sleeping, fatigue, thoughts of suicide or death, feelings of guilt and significant weight change.

    Once these symptoms start affecting the way you live your life, it’s time to seek help. M.I., who has had depression on and off for many years says, “I never really knew what was wrong with me. I would have these bouts of trying to cope with life, but all I would end up doing is staying sad, and crying all the time. I couldn’t see any way out of what I was dealing with in my life, but I’m glad I hung in there. Being able to find out what was wrong with me and knowing that I could get treatment for it changed my life.”

    Depression can also affect the physical health of a person, which is a symptom that is often overlooked. I. A., a depression sufferer shares, “I would get these pains in my arms, shoulder and hands. My doctor told me that he couldn’t find anything wrong. Nothing wrong with my bones or my joints, but the pains seemed to go away. Now I know it was related to the depression.”

    No one knows what exactly causes depression, but some believe it might be caused by an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, and in that instance, you and your doctor might decide that you need to take antidepressants. One form of depression called “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (SAD) uses light therapy as treatment since it’s thought that a lack of sunlight during certain times of the year could be a cause.

    If you think depression might be entering your life, don’t wait to get help. There is nothing wrong with asking questions and trying to get help. Many people are too afraid or feel guilty about asking for help for depression. A lot of the world still thinks that depression is “just the blues” or just a person feeling down. Depression is a very real medical condition that is just as valid as having a broken bone that would need to be treated.

    “A reluctance to get help can lead to years of disability and not having a good and happy life,” says B.D., “I could have gotten help a long time ago, but I waited for about ten years before taking action. I should have been a person strong enough to beat depression on my own. I sure wish I had made the move toward help instead of waiting.”

    Remember, depression is a treatable condition that can get better. You need to take the steps to get the help you need.

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  • Depression Hurts, But You Can Beat It At Its Game.

    Thank God we have problems.
    No, that is not a misprint friend. It is true. Why? Because it means we are still alive and guess what, it means you are being made stronger. Granted, we all have problems, some big, some small; all a source of worry, anxiety and maybe even sadness. It is part of living. The truth is it is how we handle our difficulties and problems that can make or break us as humans. Difficulties should act as a spur for action, according to Charles de Gaulle: “Difficulties attracts the man of character because it is in embracing it that he realizes himself!”

    As powerful a grip as depression may have on you, as much as depression hurts and can make things seem hopeless, remember the quote above and make the steps to belittle the strength of this enemy of your happiness, before this foe called depression hurts you.

    I believe it’s been said that we only use about 10% of our brain and maybe even less when it comes to our problems, which in turn aggravates how much depression hurts or seems to affect us. If you truly look within and reach for the strength that lies inside of all of us, you will see that most problems are really only bigger than what they are. Truthfully we magnify their effects with pessimistic and hopeless thoughts.

    “Okay, Mr. “Big Shot”, you tell me how to go about overcoming my depression”
    I will do my best for you my friend, but promise that you will try what I tell you.

    To lessen the pain of depression and your problems, here are some tips for you.

    1. Think positively thoughts as much as is humanly possible. Always believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Remember: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” If you think ‘it’ that things will improve, fate and the life forces around will be at your disposal to aid you to succeed.

    2. Watch what you utter and try as much as possible to say positive things about your life, the cause of your depression and situations. “Death and Life is in the power of your tongue (words), those who love its fruits (aware of its consequences) will eat from it. (enjoy…or well if negative, not enjoy…it)
    Speak to your situation by repeating positive affirmation aloud.

    3. Assess your problems and DO something about it. Try to figure out why it
    Occurred in the first place, learn from the situation and take the lesson as a learning experience you can draw from to make things better in the future.

    Now, since a common symptom of depression is a feeling of worthlessness, why not increase your self-worth and confidence by making yourself healthier. A healthy body equates to a healthy mind, and a healthy mind, friends, is a powerful one. Stronger than any hurt depression could bring your way, stronger than your problems, stronger than your pains. But, like any muscle, you’ve got to work at it to ‘make’ it strong.

    I mentioned getting healthy. Well we all know how; through a proper diet and exercise.
    The former will nourish and make you literally feel great and the latter, especially in regards to depression will exercise the motor centers of the brain, making the blood flow away from the emotional activity center; consequently you become more receptive to positive thoughts, which by the way is the first step to healing depression –there is a quote that supports this, it goes-“Be transformed by the renewing of your thoughts”
    Say that over and over, until it seeks into your subconscious.

    For those who believe in the existence of the Unseen yet the Omnipotent and Present One…God. A simple and straightforward prayer asking for His help can and will soothe the pain and challenges we may have to face in our lives. He has promised us two things when it comes to facing life’s ups and downs: “He will never give us more than we can handle” and to “Fear not for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God, I will help thee and strengthen and I will uphold you with my victorious right Hand!”. Indeed, these are powerful verses to keep in mind in coping with depression.

    I’m not saying things will be instantly better, hey Rome wasn’t built in a day friends.
    With anything in life, you have to work-not necessarily hard at it-but smarter and we all know you only get out of something what you put into it-actually, a lot more.

    Depression hurts, we know that; but now YOU can beat depression because you are stronger!

    You can make it if you try.

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