There are many psychiatric disorders that doctors have identified. One that is becoming nearly epidemic is “clinical depression.” Why it’s more common today is another story, but clinical depression usually refers to the more severe type of depression. But clinical depression is actually known as major depression disorder (MDD) to doctors, and is also called, “major depressive disorder.”
“Clinical depression,” however, is the term most used by people. The severity of the symptoms of major depression disorder are such that people with this disease can do little more than deal with the disease fulltime. Symptoms can include emotional problems like sadness, inability to concentrate, feeling negative all the time, and feelings of hopelessness. Physical symptoms can include loss of sex drive, weight gain, and lethargy. At it’s worst, victims can be suicidal.
We often think of some forms of depression such as Seasonal Affective Disorder and postpartum depression as being separate types of depression, when these are actually “sub-categories” of major depression disorder. But for a person to be considered to have major depression disorder – no matter what other sub-types of depression they may have – they must be in a down mood for at least two weeks and have five or more of the typical clinical depression symptoms. When a person has these symptoms, he or she is definitely experiencing clinical depression and should be treated as soon as possible by trained medical personnel.
There are many recommended treatments for MDD, but the most common are medication, psychotherapy, and even ECT (Electro-Convulsive-Therapy, a.k.a. “electroconvulsive therapy”).
There’s always new treatments being explored for treating MDD, with supporters claiming effectiveness and others denouncing their effectiveness. One treatment that has ‘made the grade’ is Light Therapy for sufferers of SAD (a.k.a. “seasonal depression”). For a long time, light therapy was considered to be a far-fetched idea.
Some natural remedies, though, are clearly NOT so effective. One herbal remedy for depression is St. John’s Wort, but its effectiveness is limited. Another “natural” remedy being experimented with is acupuncture, but so far its effectiveness hasn’t been proven as well.
But don’t wait until things get critical with your friend or loved one (or yourself!). Get some sort of treatment going ASAP. Whether the treatment is ‘official’ established depression treatment or some weird alternative treatment, the important thing is to get something going.
It would be best to find a qualified medical person who would look for any physical reasons for the depression first. (Things such as diet, disease, and heredity).
Then emotional problems should be looked into, and this includes past trauma, bereavement, any suppressed mental struggles and so forth.
So the therapist needs to be a good detective of sorts, along with being a trained therapist. Because lots of things can contribute to MDD, including a history of drug and alcohol abuse, prior sexual abuse, lack of enough sunlight, just to name a few. These are important skills to have in order to accurately identify the cause of the depression and be able to put together the best treatment program.
Chuck’s incredible survival of a suicide attempt when he was just sixteen years young inspired him to write a book to help others. To discover more about Major Depression Disorder, go to his site at http://www.dealwithdepression.org