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What is Depression? (Depression #1)

January 29th, 2009 · 25 Comments

illumistream asked:


People sometimes have a hard time understanding the difference between depression and normal sadness. Dr. Eredlyi discusses the different kinds of depression, and how to recognize them.

Depression book

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Is Depression a reasonable reaction to a dysfunctional society?

January 27th, 2009 · 8 Comments

Depression
Twilight asked:


The more I encounter those suffering depression (and occasionally when I feel low myself) - the more this question is on my mind.

In a world where many of us are working to live, plagued by doubts and insecurities, divorced from a clear sense of identity in a planet which increasingly threatened, more of us are becoming depressed.

And I wonder whether depression is not so much an illness as an appropriate reaction when faced with the world we live in.

Is Depression a reasonable reaction to a dysfunctional society?

Depression Knowledge

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Tales Of Mere Existence “How To Cope With Depression”

January 27th, 2009 · 24 Comments

AgentXPQ asked:


If you’re feeling down, go to your Co-Workers, Elders, Family and Friends for help. They are sure to give you great, great advice…

Depression Issues

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How Illness Can Affect Depression

January 26th, 2009 · No Comments

Depression
John Samson asked:


Illness and Depression

Depression often tags along with another serious illness such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s Disease and more.  So often doctors will treat the illness but not treat the depression which follows along. This is sad because if you are so dejected and pessimistic about being sick, chances are your recovery won’t be the best.

Cancer Can Scare You to Death

Millions of people are living with a current or past diagnosis of cancer. Just the word ‘cancer’ causes people to panic, become overcome with fear of dying, and think they are forever ruined. There is an immediate fear of death, life plans upset, change in lifestyle, medical bills to face, and a fight to survive.  So often your doctor, your family, friends, and cancer specialists think that it is normal for you to be depressed when you have cancer and don’t think it needs to be treated.  But how can you really participate in your treatment plan if you are expecting the worst, and knowing it will happen?

I have sat with people and their families when the diagnosis of cancer is given. The reaction is always disbelief, even if the person was suspecting this to be true. I have held the hand of women who have been told that their husbands have prostate cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, and many more.  I have sat silent with husbands who have just been given the news that their wife has ****** cancer, uterine cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer.  Men tend not to talk but their pain can be felt through the looks on their faces. Cancer scares people and sometimes it scares them to death before their time.

Depression can and should be treated right along with any treatment for cancer. Antidepressant medications are usually well tolerated but there may be some side effects and problems with other medications taken.  It is very important to make it clear to your doctor that you need help for your depression as well as your cancer. It is also very important that if you are the husband, wife, sibling, or child of someone who is dealing with cancer to do the same thing. Please ask your doctor for antidepressant medication if you are suffering with cancer and are depressed.

Depression Can Break Your Heart

People with heart disease tend to suffer from depression more than healthy heart people. Flip that coin and people with depression are at greater risk for getting heart disease. If you have heart disease and are depressed you have a bigger risk of death after a heart attack. After having heart surgery, it’s very important to follow through with necessary rehabilitation.  This is more difficult for someone who is depressed. Depression can increase blood pressure and affect clotting.  It can also lead to elevated insulin and cholesterol levels.  It can increase stress hormones, those fight or flight impulses we have when faced with danger. Again, a chemical imbalance in the brain sends the wrong messages to the body. Depression and heart disease are deadly companions and can lead to each other. They are a frightening hand in glove combination.

Despite the real connection between these two dangerous illnesses, depression often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Persons with heart disease, their families and friends, and even their doctors and cardiologists may miss depression’s warning signs. And when treatment is given it is often not enough. They think that these feelings just go along with heart disease.  When my husband had emergency open heart surgery, there was never any discussion about depression which went along with heart problems.  I was on top of it and worked to make sure my husband was able to get all the support he needed. Others may not know what to do and they get no help from the doctors.

The impact of depression and heart disease is enormous. Depression is the leading cause of disability and heart disease is by far the leading cause of death in the US. One in three Americans will die of some form of heart disease. So it is very important that we all become aware that depression and heart disease are associated with sickness and death and proper treatment must be given. Newer anti depressants don’t have the negative complications that the previous ones did.

Treatment for depression helps you manage heart problems better and have a better quality of life. It should be made very clear to people with heart problems complicated by depression that exercise is one of the best treatments for both.

Treatment for depression helps people manage both diseases, making survival and enjoyment of life possible. Keep your heart and mind safe and sound. Total health is in your future.



Depression Knowledge

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Fad Dieting And How It Can Lead To Depression

January 25th, 2009 · No Comments

Depression
John Hubert asked:


Fad diets why they are bad is because they can lead to medical and psychological problems. The psychiatric consequences can leave people searching for your depression cure. Most of us derive at least some self-esteem or self worth from our appearance. We know that the fad diets do not support the physiological needs of the body, but what does it do to our brain? Does fad dieting create depression? Does being overweight lead to depression? Fad dieting and depression have been linked in some studies.

Depression is a medical condition. It occurs when there is not enough serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain. There are different types and subtypes of depression. The symptoms and length vary. They do all employ: down mood or melancholily, loss of interest in previously pleasurable things, overeating or not eating, sleeping to much or not at all, isolating oneself from others, lethargy (no get up and go), and a feeling of helplessness or hopelessness.

There is situational type depression where one event or serious of events seemed to trigger the symptoms. These usually include some kind of loss like someone close to you died, you lost your job, or your relationship has broken up. There are clinical types of depression like Major Depression and Dysthymia. These are diagnosed by professionals who follow a diagnostic manual. These diagnoses have to be specific to include the symptoms and length given in the manual. There is also Atypical Depression. The common symptoms of depression are present with this type. but it is also known to be reactive. This means that if something good happens the depression would lift for a time. This is absent in other forms of depression. Atypical depression is 40% of all depressions.

Fad diets why they are so bad is because they have been linked with depression. A failed diet can cause depression. Experts say that if you can pinpoint what triggered your depression, it can help finding a cure for your depression for some types.

Fad diets why they are so bad is because they can leave people feeling depressed when the diet does not produce expected results. Fad diets why are they so bad can leave you searching for a cure for your depression.

The body seems to crash after a fad diet while the weight comes back on. Dieter’s feel helpless and seek out a cure for your depression.

Fad diets why they are so bad is because the desperate and depressed are lured by what the diet promises. In seeking a cure for your depression, some people actually feel that if they could just lose weight, they would be happy and all their problems would be over. A dieter may get depressed because they find it impossible to stick to a rigid diet plan, leaving them feel more hopeless.

Some experts say that people with clinical depression my relapse after fad dieting. Starvation diets can leave you looking for a cure for your depression. Some people think your depression cure will be losing the weight itself. Clinical depression is usually treated with psychotropic medication and counseling, or counseling alone.

A cure for your depression may simply be eating a healthy balanced diet and getting regular exercise. Exercise can produce endorphins, a chemical in the body that makes you feel good. Fad diets are bad because they lead people to believe their weight loss can cure your depression.



Depression Issues

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uaral depression

January 21st, 2009 · 24 Comments

onur212 asked:


uaral depression

Depression Help

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Overcoming Depression with Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

January 17th, 2009 · 22 Comments

magnustapping asked:


Visit
http://www.Tapping.com
for more Emotional Freedom Technique videos, EFT articles, and my E-Book.

Emotional Freedom Technique is a simple acupressure technique for releasing negative feelings.

You feel negative feelings in the body, so you have to go to the body to work on them.

You can release a negative feeling right now with this video. Tapping is very effective on helping with Depression, but bear in mind you may need to do a lot of tapping to become completely happy.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: How hard should I tap?
A: Tap lightly, just so that you feel it. The purpose of the tapping is to bring your attention to different parts of your body, it actually works if you just imagine tapping - as long as your attention is drawn to the right points.

Q: How can I be sure I am finding the right points?
A: Use two fingers to make sure you cover the points. Sometimes the point will ‘feel’ right, as if there is a slight indent in the skin or the point is particularly sensitive. It’s all connected so you don’t have to be 100% accurate.

Q: You have missed out points that Gary Craig teaches!
A: Yes. Feel free to tap those too, I left them out to keep the video simple and it seems to work fine without them. If you find the video doesn’t work for you, try tapping the additional points - around the top-middle of the head, and just under the armpit.

Q: Is the sequence important?
A: No. You can tap the points in any order. In fact you only need to tap one or two of the points for each particular feeling. It’s just you have no easy way to know which point so you might as well tap them all.

Q: I am a skeptic! / You are a charlatan!
A: Thanks. Tapping is perfectly explainable scientifically but it does go beyond most people’s understanding. It really does work though, and the best way to prove that to yourself is to try it and watch your negative feelings disappear.

For more info see the Introductory video which gives a bit more explanation:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6i33V2EcVlY

Also this video shows use of an electro-acupuncture pen to show that the points have a different electrical resistence to other parts of the body:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GCYkdK0Uol0

Depression Help

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How do I get diagnosed with depression while in Iraq?

January 14th, 2009 · 6 Comments

Depression
Kris asked:


I’ve been in Iraq for well over a year and while I have been pretty much out of harm’s way for the most part, it has been a rough year emotionally. I have not been diagnosed with depression before because I never saw a psychiatrist or anyone of that nature, however, I can tell you that for a good part of ten years, I’ve been having a series of depression which last for several days.

Here in Iraq, it’s been the most prominent. I would get depressed and feel empty inside and this will last for a week and then I would feel better for a week and get depressed for another week and feel better for three weeks. Usually, my depression is sudden. I would be at work and I will feel fine and then all of a sudden I would feel this uncontrollable saddness and empty feeling inside me. Almost like disappointment or like I lost something. Which would eventually turn into iritability and hostility and back to silence again.

I want to see a real psyciatrist but don’t know what to do. Thanks.

Depression Help

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Recovering from Depression - Part 1

January 13th, 2009 · 25 Comments

psychetruth asked:


Dr. John Breeding, Ph.D. Psychologist, talks about depression. In this video he discusses the how psychology and psychiatry differ from their approach to depression. Is depression really a chemical imbalance in the brain or a psychological problem? Often time people are given antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor or Wellbutrin.

SSRI (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are often promoted as correcting chemical imbalances in the brain but there is no proof that depression or mental illness is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain nor is there any proof that antidepressants correct an imbalance. These medications often time have horrible side effects like agitation and sexual dysfunction.

This is a different view of depression.

In this video Dr. Breeding will discuss tips on how to recover from depression, become a more happy person.

Visit Dr. Breedings website at

http://www.wildestcolts.com

This video was produced by psychetruth

http://www.youtube.com/psychetruth
http://www.livevideo.com/psychetruth
http://www.myspace.com/psychtruth

Depression Community

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Types of Depression Medication: Classic Anti Depressants

January 11th, 2009 · No Comments

Depression
Alex Matis asked:


Depression is the number one mental disorder in the western world with an ever increasing number of patients. Luckily there are many different types of depression medication and other treatments for depression available nowadays that are effective and allow for an alleviation or even cure of depression. Among the treatments for depression prescription anti depressants are by far the ones most commonly used. Given a broad lack of knowledge among many depressed patients about what these drugs actually do and what to expect when one takes them a review of those types of depression medication is well warranted. In principle one can distinguish four types of depression medication, though a few medicinal prescription treatments for depression do not directly fall into one of the four categories: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Tricyclics Antidepressants (TCAs), Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs), and Serotonin/Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).

All of those types of depression medication have many commonalities with regards to their mode of action. They all work by increasing the level of neurotransmitters in the brain. MAOIs do this by inhibiting the enzymatic breakdown of neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine trough monoamine oxidase; TCAs prevent the uptake of various neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine; and SSRIs and SNRIs, as their name implies, selectively prevent the reuptake of specific neurotransmitters. Also, all mentioned treatments for depression may have serious side effects, although these side effects vary depending on the kind of anti depressant used. Furthermore, all types of depression medication start to have a positive effect on the depressed patient only after a treatment period of several days to weeks. They also need to be taken consistently over months and sometimes years before drug levels may be reduced or the drugs may not be needed any more by the patient. While the effect of anti depressants on neurotransmitter levels is well documented, how they actually work to lower depression is not definitely known. Some theories claim that the excessive levels of neurotransmitters induced by anti depressants over time lead to a down-regulation of neurotransmitter-receptors, which has a positive effect. Others believe that anti depressants also have positive longer term effects such as neurogenesis or altered gene expression patterns. Whatever the exact causes of the anti depressive effect of these types of depression treatment, they obviously work in many, though certainly not all, cases of depression as has been demonstrated in various clinical studies. Consequently, together with psychotherapy, anti depressants are the treatments for depression of choice for most medical professionals. Unfortunately all named types of depression medication are also known to produce tolerance, leading to the need to increase dosage or to switch to another depression treatment. In addition withdrawal effects are often seen when the patient is taken off medication, leading to a long-term dependence on the drugs used.

All in all the classic types of depression medication certainly have their merits. On the other hand due to the possibility of side effects, the induction of tolerance and the potential danger of establishing dependency on the drugs these treatments of depression should not be taken lightly and in no case without guidance and supervision from a medical professional. Also, the depressed patient should generally work on bettering her condition besides through taking drugs. A healthy nutrition, potentially including nutritional supplements, sports and outdoor activities as well as mental training, such as meditation are all supportive treatments for depression that should be applied to help the depressed patient fight against depression.



Depression Help

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