Depression: The "chain of thorns" in the soul
Depression is responsible for the loss of 10% of productive hours worldwide. One in four women and one in eight men may experience depression in their lifetime, i.e., around 20% of the population, with increasing rates over the past decade, also occurring in 2% to 5% of children and teenagers. Almost half of all cases of depression go unrecognized and untreated, while approximately 10% of depressed patients commit suicide. The World Health Organization predicts that by the year 2020, depression will be the largest health problem in the developing world, possibly affecting more than 25% of the population, and by then, major depression will be the second leading cause of death and disability.
Index
1.What is depression?
We all feel melancholic, sad, or upset at some point in our life or even very often. We feel disappointment after a failure or sadness after a breakup or the loss of a loved one. These feelings are the normal consequence of good and bad moments of our life. These negative feelings are normal and do not significantly affect our ability to meet our daily obligations. We could even say that they are also useful to the extent that they help us get to know some of our weaknesses better. The self-awareness that emerges through negative experiences helps us make efforts to change ourselves in order to avoid the negative consequences of immature behaviours in the future. However, if the sadness, instead of decreasing over time, becomes more intense and lasts more than two weeks, preventing the normal activities of a smooth life such as work, nutrition, sleep, and our close relationships, then we are likely to suffer from depression and need the help of a specialist to deal with it. What characterizes depression is not the presence of negative feelings but their great intensity and long duration.
2. What are the symptoms of depression
- Constant sadness
- Psychosomatic symptoms, such as constipation, headaches, menstrual disorders. Various physical pains in the spine and chest, shortness of breath, often accompany depression. Many patients focus on the physical symptoms without realizing that they are depressed.
- Loss of energy and exhaustion
- More or less appetite resulting in weight loss or gain
- More or less sleep (may sleep little or sleep most of the day)
- Isolation tendencies, social withdrawal anxiety
- Restlessness, indecision disappointment
- Indifference to almost everything in life
- Loss of interest in seeking a romantic partner or in sexual intercourse.
- Feelings of guilt, insecurity, self-blame, and helplessness
- Bad mood, most of the day almost on a daily basis
- Loss of interest or pleasure in all or nearly all activities, even those that used to be pleasant
- Pessimism, no hope for the future (everything seems "black")
- Frequent thoughts about death and suicide that may take the form of "attempting" suicide
3. What are the types of depression?
The forms that depression can take are the following:
There are many specific syndromes such as seasonal depression, which is usually only observed in winter, can be due to the absence of sunlight and responds to exposure to artificial light, postpartum depression, which occurs in mothers, months after giving birth, and postpartum psychosis, which has symptoms similar to those of manic depression. Seasonal depression, a condition more common in northern countries than in Greece, linked to reduced sunshine. Hippocrates was the first to note the association of onset of depression in autumn.
Finally, chronic depression is relapse and progression to chronicity is the most likely progression in depression if not effectively treated. The person continues to be depressed for a long time, and if chronic depression is characterized by reduced functioning, some of these patients may be considered chronically depressed even in the absence of specific depressive symptoms. To avoid the trap of chronic depression, it is very important to access prolonged treatment as soon as possible.
Why do I feel so weak?
When we suffer from depression , we feel that nothing can comfort us. Even when we know what it is that could lift our spirits, we can't do it. Knowledge alone cannot set us free. We know but we can't. Depression is like "chains of thorns" that have grown and bloodied our soul, holding us captive (within ourselves) and not letting us live our lives freely and happily. People around us may give us advice but to us they seem unnecessary and futile, even though we recognize their value and usefulness. We feel that it is impossible to do anything that could help us. What we feel more than anything else is our inability to desire anything, to be inspired by anything, to be interested in anything. As if our ability to desire and to try to satisfy our desires has been lost within us.
On the one hand, we know what we should be interested in, but on the other hand, we don't feel that we are interested. We know what it is that we should like but we don't like it. We know what we should do but we can't do it. We know what others want from us, but we can't meet it. Depression does not "leave" us at this stage of our lives to hope. We have lost hope or rather hope has stopped working within us… the hope that could bring healing change. And when we realize that our ability to pursue what is beneficial to ourselves and others has been disrupted, we feel guilty and blame ourselves for what we cannot accomplish. We are caught between helplessness and guilt. We feel inferior, diminished, unworthy, worthless. But it is impossible to break the "chains of thorns", to free ourselves from the trap of depression, only by our own conscious efforts. Many times, the more we try the more we feel that we cannot succeed.
In what ways can I help myself?
1. Acceptance of our weakness
Since we understand that it is futile to deal with depression vigorously on our own, knowing that what we lack is strength, determination and fighting spirit, the best thing we can do is to come to terms with who we are at this moment, with what we feel and with what we can. To live with it, to coexist as harmoniously as possible with our depression. We accept as calmly as possible what is happening inside us and around us and wait for our strength to return so that we can behave energetically again.
2. Antidepressant drugs
Although it is always good to avoid reckless use of drugs in the case of depression, antidepressants are very helpful. Antidepressants are relatively innocent drugs. They are non-addictive, have no significant side effects and can offer us substantial help. If, of course, they are combined with Counselling-Psychotherapy, their results can be life-saving, usually in the most severe forms of depression. Antidepressants do not work immediately. Mood improvement usually takes three weeks or more, unlike sedatives, which have an immediate effect. One may initially notice an improvement in sleep. But the improvement in mood follows later. Side effects usually appear from the beginning of treatment, are mild and usually subside, but if they are not tolerated, the patient should contact his doctor. The consulting psychologist/therapist according to his judgment and the seriousness of the situation will be the one to decide whether the person needs to follow pharmacotherapy or not. For this reason, it is always recommended that people first visit a psychologist to see the situation they are in, and after the assessment, they might be referred to a psychiatrist, who will also administer the appropriate pharmaceutical method.
3. Counselling-Psychotherapy
Depression , reveals to us that the "problem" that torments the person exists at a deeper level, which if not approached will be dealt with fleetingly and in part. Counselling-Psychotherapy has exactly this goal, to "deal" with the problem at its root by reaching the depth of the emotion. If the person does not truly express their feelings, they will not be able to escape easily from the depressed feelings. Within us there are problems at a deeper level that we must face and deal with. It is not a simple disease but a form of communication, a message that we have to decode. The Counselling psychologist/therapist can help us understand the psychological reasons that contribute to the creation of depressive feelings and support us in the course of our therapeutic change.
Counselling-Psychotherapy can help us:
- To explore thoughts and behaviours that contribute to the creation of feelings of frustration, inferiority and guilt that lead to depression.
- To understand which of the problems that concern us we can solve and in what way and which we cannot solve but we should accept them and live harmoniously with them.
- Let us gradually reintroduce pleasant activities into our lives that can awaken the joy of life in us.
- To improve our relationships with our loved ones.
- To express our true feelings when we really want to communicate even when they are negative (e.g., anger, aggression, sadness, resentment).
- To claim our rights and not give in for fear of the opinions of others, raising our lost self-confidence.
- To base our choices on our own values and our own desires.
- To regain control of our lives.
- To set realistic goals for the future that can give us meaning and to take the risk and responsibility of those choices.
The more severe the depression that torments us, the more difficult it is to be able to feel better after a meeting with the psychotherapist. This is because depression itself does not allow us to feel better, to see ourselves more optimistically, to hope for some change. Whatever they tell us, even our loved ones, we take it wrong. We give everything a negative meaning. We only see the bad side of things. The psychologist/therapist doesn't just want to comfort us, but to help us change ourselves. It is therefore possible that we also blame the therapist for our depression and think that he is not good enough and that he cannot help us. The healthier and stronger we feel, the easier it is with the help of the counselling psychologist/therapist to work on a deeper level with our inner world to get to know ourselves better and learn techniques to deal with negative thoughts and feelings.
Self-awareness and the development of our psychological skills will help us to properly handle internal and external adversities so that we never again experience another depressive period in the future.
Summarizing, it is very important to understand that depression is a mental health condition that can be cured and that the sooner it is detected by the person or his surroundings, the easier it can be treated with the help of a specialist. That is why even when you feel depressive symptoms for a period of more than 2-3 weeks, it is good to act immediately.
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