"I'm so depressed";, "I'm broken"... Do you often say that when you're feeling down? Do you suspect you are suffering from depression? In fact, the "depression" we often talk about is just a depressive mood, far from the medical concept of depression!

Everyone in different stages of life, different periods or in the face of different conditions may have short-term depression performance, such as facing birth and death, life setbacks, mental stress and other negative life events, pessimism, disappointment, depression and other negative emotions dominate, which originally belongs to a normal emotional response, should not be confused with depression.

So what does real depression look like?

People who are truly depressed not only have low mood, but also decreased mobility, and the brain can't command the body,

The whole person has no vitality, and has lost interest in all activities of life.

Why do you get depression?

Depression is caused by a combination of internal and external factors. Their own reasons include family heredity, introversion, psychological quality, etc., and external factors mainly include the stimulation of living environment and negative experiences in life.

Depression can have the following symptoms:

Satisfy both the above two main symptoms and two additional symptoms for more than 2 weeks (symptoms are present daily). And lead to a certain degree of social functioning difficulties, may be considered mild depression.

Moderate and severe depression need to meet more symptom conditions.

Compared with depression, the intensity of symptoms of depression is relatively weak, the duration is shorter, and the impact is less severe.

Let's break it down in a table

	Depressed mood	depression
cause	There are specific negatives -- things happen for a reason	It usually occurs for no reason or is aggravated by something
duration	Usually not more than 2 weeks Or more than 2 weeks, but intermittent	Symptoms persist every day for more than 2 weeks or even months,
degree	lighter	Serious, with rhythmic morning heavy night light characteristics
Suicidal behavior	Suicidal thoughts may occur, but usually disappear with the appearance of interests such as food, travel, etc	It may produce suicidal thoughts and behaviors that are difficult to alleviate by gaining interest and pleasure
Treatment method	If timely attention and adjustment, generally can be alleviated in the short term	It is difficult to resolve without treatment, and symptoms may even worsen

 

Most depressive feelings resolve on their own.

Or through the encouragement of relatives and friends, divert attention and other ways can be restored to a normal state.

As a result, some people may make light of depression. Think that it is like a "small cold", come and go quickly, anyway will disappear with time, so it is not added.

But prolonged depression can be an early sign of depression.

Because the development of depression needs to go through a long process, people may feel something in the heart, sleep poorly, and emotions cannot be relieved in the early days.

Anxiety, insomnia after a period of time, it may lead to depression, and then from light to heavy development of depression.

So how can you prevent depression from getting worse and developing into depression?

We can try some self-help methods, such as:

a. Aerobic exercise can effectively reduce depression, and the enhancement of body energy can promote the improvement of pessimism and depression.

b. Maintain social activities, keep in touch with caring friends and family, and express repressed thoughts and feelings.

c. Download mindfulness audio or video and practice mindfulness to reduce self-criticism and relieve inner depression.

Limit alcohol intake. Although alcohol can "numb" pain, it can exaggerate certain feelings and make people feel irritable and depressed.

When these methods can not relieve depression, we can also seek professional support for psychological treatment.

So it seems that those who say "I am depressed"; are relieved? But depression is not a small matter, we need to pay enough attention to! Timely adjustment of negative emotions, positive and optimistic face everything, in order to prevent the emergence of depression!

Contributors:

Sun Ying

Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University

Reviewer:

Wang Yan

Vice President, Health Management Branch, Chinese Geriatric Society

Director of Health Examination Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University