Depression is a mental condition that is characterized by a number of factors. Many people think that they are depressed or experiencing a major depressive episode when they are experiencing the common emotion of sadness. While people who are suffering from depression can experience sadness, being sad does not constitute depression. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines sad as "affected with or expressive of grief or unhappiness". This emotional state usually lasts a brief period of time while a major depressive episode lasts at least two weeks.
A major depressive episode can be caused by many factors, some of the causes of depression include but are not limited to abuse, certain medications, conflict, death and loss, genetics, major events, other personal problems, serious illness, and substance abuse.
Diagnosing a major depressive episode consists reviewing a list of symptoms that have been prevalent for a duration of time. Major symptoms of depression include depressed mood or loss of pleasure, appetite and weight change, trouble with sleep, fatigue, slowed down, agitated, trouble with concentration, death wishes, suicidal ideas. In order to be diagnosed as a major depressive episode a person must have felt bad for most of the day, nearly every day, for at least 2 weeks. This requirement is meant to ensure that Major Depressive Episodes are differentiated from the transient "down" spells that most of us sometimes feel.
Major depressive episodes can become a major depressive mood disorder if the patient experiences a major depressive episode more than once. While these episodes typically include the emotion of sadness the individual experiencing depression typically cannot articulate what it is that is actually causing them to feel sad. Most individuals experience sadness as a result of specific events such as losing someone or something that is important to them, unfulfilled expectations, or because of a undesirable outcome of a situation. Often times people can experience sadness as a form of empathy. Many people felt sadness after the events of 9-11 as well as the more recent shootings in Newtown Connecticut.
There are many therapies that are effective in treating depression depression can be treated in a talk therapy setting by using the following models, solution focused therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, emotion focused therapy, psycho education for the family system, in combination of working with a medical professional who can prescribe medication.
Some of the common mistakes when attempting to communicate with someone who is experiencing depression as trying to fix them or their problem, treating them as though depression is who they are, blaming them for how they feel, minimize their experience by telling them you know how they feel or you that you have been there. The most constructive ways to communicate with someone experiencing depression is to validate their experience and to listen. Try to be as kind caring and compassionate as possible, asking if there is anything that you can do to help them is also a possibility.
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