Generic selectors. Exact matches only. Search in title. Search in content. Search in excerpt. Search in posts. Search in pages. Check out our other posts! Tips for a Safe Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is just around the corner. For many, that means turkey, famil Racial Trauma and its Effects on Mental Health Trauma can be the result of any number of incidents that cause physical, m Belonging is what we are all res But give it a shot. Make some tea or coffee, go to a comfortable chair and look out a window.
In winter you can zip yourself into a sleeping bag or cover yourself with blankets. I was so manic I had to get out of bed often at 4 or 5 a. I was, however, able to take few deep breaths once in a while. Take a hike. Everyone knows how important exercise can be to mental health. It not only produces endorphins but can give you a feeling of accomplishment. Just move your body a bit each day.
Even though I walked and biked a lot, I still felt trapped inside my own head. Or look at something outside my brain—a tree, a flower, the sky. OK, I admit it—a few times I hugged a tree.
I felt really silly doing it. But, I could actually feel some of my anxiety dissolving into the tree. Get a massage. However, there are many more scales available that are better suited for doctors to use with patients. There are even scales patients can use on their own to track or self-report depression symptoms. While scales can offer key insights, they tend to be quite different from one another. The way they are administered, the questions they ask, and the way the answers are interpreted may not be the same from one scale to the next.
That said, when used along with other diagnostic measures and the judgment of an experienced clinician, the scales can be useful tools. Some of the most popular scales used to help clinicians diagnose depression include:. There are inventories, scales, and questionnaires that are in the public domain and, therefore, more accessible.
The PHQ , for example, is available for free online and in over 30 languages. It can be downloaded as a PDF or accessed as an interactive quiz on several reputable mental health websites. Fortunately, there are a number of treatment options for severe depression.
Your doctor can help decide the best one for you based on your symptoms. Other factors considered when suggesting a treatment plan include your level of function and if you are considered a harm to yourself or others. Also referred to as talk therapy, psychotherapy can often help with easing depressive disorder symptoms. Many clinicians offer several types of therapies. You can ask your health care provider for a referral or search the American Psychological Association's site to find out which ones are available in your area.
It may also be helpful to ask local therapists if they specialize in severe depression. Medication is frequently prescribed to treat severe depression.
The most common type of medication used is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs. Other medications used to treat depression include:. If someone has severe depression that has not responded well to first-line treatments like antidepressant medication or psychotherapy, brain stimulation treatments may be tried. Examples of these therapies used for depression include:. In some cases, inpatient treatment may be recommended for severe depression.
Being hospitalized for depression doesn't mean that you're weak. It simply means that your treatment may be more effective in a more controlled environment.
Getting depression treatment as an inpatient also allows doctors to keep you safe as they closely monitor how well you are responding to the treatment protocol. It allows them to make any necessary changes should your depression not initially respond or become worse. There are a few additional things you can do, along with the other treatment options, to help ease your depression.
Your doctor may recommend one or more to aid in your recovery. Your doctor and mental health care team can help you evaluate all the different depression treatment options and find the one best suited for you, your type of depression, and its severity. It can take time to find the method that works best for you. You may need to try more than one form of treatment or use multiple treatments such as antidepressants plus therapy at the same time to effectively manage your symptoms.
Some people think depression is trivial and not a genuine health condition. They're wrong — it is a real illness with real symptoms. Depression is not a sign of weakness or something you can "snap out of" by "pulling yourself together". The good news is that with the right treatment and support, most people with depression can make a full recovery. Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms.
They range from lasting feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy and feeling very tearful. Many people with depression also have symptoms of anxiety. There can be physical symptoms too, such as feeling constantly tired, sleeping badly, having no appetite or sex drive, and various aches and pains.
The symptoms of depression range from mild to severe. At its mildest, you may simply feel persistently low in spirit, while severe depression can make you feel suicidal, that life is no longer worth living.
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