Depression / Anxiety

The symptoms of depression are varied and complex with psychological, social and physical triggers and symptoms. Often depressed people tend to lose interest in things they used to enjoy as the symptoms of depression get in the way of the everyday activities of normal life.

Around one in four women and one in 10 men have depression serious enough to need treatment at some point in their lives. People of all ages can be affected by depression. You are said to have depression when your feelings: don't go away quickly are so bad that they interfere with everyday life. There are different types of depression. Mild depression doesn't usually stop you leading your daily life but makes everything harder to do and seem less worthwhile. Moderate depression has a significant impact on your daily life and severe depression can be indicative if you feel depressed or uninterested in doing anything and daily activities are almost impossible. All types of Depression may cause you to have physical symptoms, including tiredness or a loss of appetite.

There are also specific forms of depression including Dysthymia which is chronic mild depression (lasting at least 2 years, Bipolar affective disorder which is a type of depression in which your mood swings between high and low. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a condition where you get big mood swings in different seasons of the year and postnatal depression occurs when women become depressed soon after childbirth. The number of symptoms that you may have differs depending on the type of depression.

The main emotional symptoms of depression include: a continuous low mood, which may be worse in the mornings feeling irritable crying a lot a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that you would normally enjoy a loss of self-confidence a lack of energy, tiredness and poor concentration difficulty in making decisions feeling helpless or hopeless feeling guilty a restless or agitated feeling thoughts about suicide The main physical symptoms of depression include: a loss of sex drive (libido) trouble sleeping - possibly taking one or two hours to go to sleep or waking up earlier than usual disturbed eating patterns - either loss of appetite or eating too much unexplained aches and pains People who are depressed may also be very anxious. The exact cause of depression isn't fully understood at present.

It may develop due to a combination of triggers. The precise reasons for developing depression are probably different for each person. The likelihood of you becoming depressed may increase if you: experience stressful events, such as bereavement, divorce or losing a job have a long-term or serious illnesses, such as diabetes, cancer and arthritis have a pessimistic personality drink too much alcohol (this may be part of the cause of depression or a consequence) have depression in your family (if one of your parents has severe depression, you are eight times more likely to get depression yourself) Depression is also linked to changes in how your brain works. The brain sends signals from nerve to nerve using chemicals called neurotransmitters.

The neurotransmitters called noradrenaline and serotonin are out of balance and don't work properly in people with depression. Medication can be effective if this is the reason for your depression. As a psychologist with many years experience in psychiatry, I am able to diagnose and effectively treat depression and it's symptoms. I use various techniques to treat depression. depenedent on the presentation of depression. I advocate medication, when deemed necessary, and where appropriate will liaise with your doctor as medication can be beneficial in conjunction with the sound psychotherapy that I offer. To feel more incontrol and able to change the depression you feel, give me a call and chat with me about how I can help you to help yourself.

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