Coping With Depression

Stress is by far the most common headache “trigger.” Both female and male headache sufferers report that headaches are more likely to occur during or after periods of stress. Major life-changing events like marriage, birth of a child, or career changes all are sources of stress. However, research has found that it is actually the day-to-day stress or chronic “hassles” that are important in triggering headache. Compared to men, women often experience more of the types of stress that provoke headache.

Women experience depression about twice as often as men. Many hormonal factors may contribute to the increased rate of depression in women particularly such factors as menstrual cycle changes, pregnancy, miscarriage, postpartum period, pre-menopause, and menopause. Many women also face additional stresses such as responsibilities both at work and home, single parenthood, and caring for children and for aging parents. Women are at an increased risk of depression if they suffer from chronic headaches, survey findings reveal. The researchers found that women who experienced more than 15 headaches a month were four times as likely to have major depression as those reporting fewer headaches, and twice as likely to present with symptoms of other depressive disorders.

Chronic female headache sufferers were also three times more likely to report a high degree of somatic symptoms related to headache, such as low energy, trouble sleeping, nausea, dizziness, pain or problems during intercourse, and pain in the stomach, back, arms, legs, and joints. While everyone experiences headaches from time to time, there are a number of conditions that involve regular or repeated head pain. The three most common types of chronic headache pain are migraines, cluster headaches and tension headaches.

These crop up due to different sort of clinical disorder or unavoidable stress situations including multiple role stress, working women stress, financial stress, physical & emotional stress. Women are likely to have “multiple-role” which is stress due to managing many different roles and responsibilities. Common roles include being a mother, wife, professional working woman, and caretaker of the home. Often these important roles conflict with one another and women are forced to make tough choices between competing demands. Sometimes, women overextend themselves trying to do it all. Other times, women suffer disappointment and guilt if they are not able to meet all of the demands of family, home, and work.

The majority of women of today work outside the home. Although some women hold high-status and powerful positions, many more women have jobs with high demands and low control. These jobs can lead a woman to feel “helpless” in the workplace. Helplessness worsens the physical and emotional effects of stress, and also prevents individuals from even trying to improve their situation.

Women on average earn less money than men and have a lower overall standard of living. Therefore, women often feel pressures from inadequate housing, poor access to healthcare, and fear of unexpected expenses. In such cases, women also have fewer opportunities for recreation and escape from day-to-day stress.

Women are likely to be the primary caretaker in the family. Though many men are taking active roles in parenting, women still provide the majority of childcare. There are great joys in parenting, but it can also be a physically and emotionally taxing responsibility. Women also are more likely to be the primary caregiver for aging parents and ill family members.

If depression or anxiety is present in a patient with migraine, both disorders need to be treated. It is generally not true that treating the depression will make the headaches go away, or that headache improvement will lead to an improvement in mood. Specific treatment for both migraine and depression exists and will produce the best outcome. Women with migraine do not need to make themselves more important than anyone else, but they need to consider themselves at least as important as everyone else.

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WHEN I MET Pooja, the first thing I notice is her eyes, with their piercing pupils and watery whites. But she has not been crying. Pooja’s eyes are irritated because she cannot blink easily. They look out from a face that has been damaged by severe burns so badly that it looks like a crude drawing. Pooja struggles to breathe, forcing air through the scarred skin of her sinuses and out her gaping mouth. The flesh just below her nose is bunched up, almost imperceptibly, in tiny folds, completely plugging one nostril and most of the other. It sounds almost as though she is breathing through a respirator. Those pictures reminiscing in my mind left me with unending, speechless thoughts about the trauma faced by those Burn patients.

Burn patients like Pooja who see themselves in a mirror for the first time-to take an extreme example-typically feel alien from their appearance. And yet they do not merely “get used” to it; their new skin changes them. It alters how they relate to people, what they expect of others, how they see themselves in others’ eyes. It seems the secure may become fearful and bitter, the weak jut-jawed “survivors.”

A new study reveals the full extent of psychological problems among people who have spent years recovering from serious burns. About half of those surveyed showed signs of clinical depression, with women being most vulnerable.

Obviously when they recall the trauma they have been gone through, in those secluded moments with the scars of past hit hard their soul completely shaken their confidence; by bearing in mind the distinction in the Faces of the Past and the Future leads to acute depression. In those moments it does realize that their whole life has forever changed. Looking at present seems like past splash wipes away delicate details: dimples, pores, veins. A half-gallon washes away a face. Hair melts. Smile lines, gentle curves and folds disappear. Skin coagulates over orifices. Youth, beauty, and sensuality are eliminated in seconds, as though through some evil spell henceforth a state of growing depression developed each passing day.

Nevertheless medical healing may over after a certain period of time but psychological healing takes a lifetime to cope up with that trauma. You are the victim and evidence of that trauma and endurance for coming out of it seems a mirage.  It’s normal for burn victims to have trouble adjusting to their condition, “I don’t think anyone would go through a burn without being horribly sad. It’s a very tough adjustment to make.” Women and those most concerned about their body images were most likely to be depressed. It’s really tough to forget the incident which completely overshadows their lives. Those moments of despair needs a special treatment & care which is above medication. In spite of medical healing burn patients need more psychological healing. At the first visit, one should evaluate each patient to determine his or her psychological and emotional state. Also try to assess how the patient will cope with the burn injury and its effects.

As some remain depressed and don’t recover, failing to move “through a course of grief and be able to pick themselves up and find their way on their own.” “They need help of some kind.” There are effective ways to help burn victims who feel ostracized. With the help of treatments like cognitive therapy aimed at changing thought patterns patients can “improve their ability to function and their ability to feel better about themselves, both of which are equally important.”

It will take determination and commitment on the part of both the burn patient and doctors to minimize the pain and discomfort. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand to make all the pain, scars and discomfort go away; this is, after all, a condition that can last a lifetime. It isn’t possible to change society’s reaction to disfigured people, “But we can get (patients) to look at themselves differently, look beyond the skin and see the healthy person that was there before the thermal injury.”

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Negative thinking dominates when a person experiences depression. The depressed person can experience negative thoughts as being beyond their control, that can then become automatic and self-perpetuating.

Negative thinking can be categorized into a number of common patterns called “cognitive distortions.” The cognitive therapist provides techniques to give the client a greater degree of control over negative thinking by correcting these distortions or correcting thinking errors that abet the distortions, in a process called cognitive restructuring.

Negative thoughts in depression are generally about one or more of three areas: negative view of self, negative view of the world and negative view of the future. These constitute what Beck called the “cognitive triad.”

Correcting cognitive distortions is a requirement for recovery. The depressed are given to negative thought patterns that not only send them down the path to depression but keep them mired in the bog of despair.

Drawing negative conclusions about themselves, engaging in all-or-nothing or black-and-white thinking, focusing on problems rather than solutions, generalizing catastrophic outcomes from one specific bad event – all are manifestations of the depressed state of mind. It is necessary and possible for the depressed to change the quality of their thinking in order to change their mood.

But the hardest domain in which to do that is the interpersonal sphere. While depressed people need to shape up their distorted thinking, there is an interpersonal reality that they also must come to terms with. A common cognitive distortion that sustains depression is “people don’t like me.” But the fact is, there is a lot about depressed behavior that is aversive to other people-things they do and things that they don’t do that are genuinely off-putting. It is a terrible struggle to sort out the distinctions – yet necessary, as supportive relationships with others are critical for recovery.

Among the behaviors typical of depression that commonly alienate others and elicit overt or subtle rejection:

•  Absence of expression, including limited facial expressiveness, lack of gesturing and nodding, minimal eye contact, in combination with slow speech, many pauses, slow responses.
•  Self-preoccupation and limited interested in the other person
• Lack of reciprocity
•  Tendency to focus on negative content
• Seeking of negative feedback congruent with their self-image or
•  Excessive reassurance-seeking
•  Anger and hostility.

How can a depressed person help him or herself ?

By definition, depressive disorders include feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and the negative thinking that is associated with depression can make it very difficult for someone to take the steps he or she needs to heal. Depressed people can help themselves in many ways, but the road to recovery is much easier if they have the support and understanding of their family and friends, as well as the assistance of a mental health professional.

Becoming aware of the behaviors that alienate others is a precondition for controlling them. That is likely to make interactions more rewarding and supportive

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Teen depression is a serious issue, but can be helped when you know the symptoms. Though the term “depression” can describe a normal human emotion, it also can refer to a mental disorder. Depressive illness in teenagers is defined when the feelings of depression persist and interfere with the teen’s ability to function.

Researchers have long recognized that risky behavior and depression are linked for adolescents; prevailing theories assumed that depressed teens turned to drugs and sex for self-medication. Now there is solid evidence that teen girls who experiment with risky behaviors (i.e., sex and drugs) are more vulnerable to depression and that teen boys who engage in binge drinking and heavy marijuana use are prone to depression.

In an article published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, five authors from different departments (Psychology, Pediatrics, Maternal and Child Health, Research and Evaluation, and Internal Medicine) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) explored whether “gender-specific patterns of substance use and sexual behavior precede and predict depression or vice versa.” The data for the UNC-CH study came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health — well-known for the large sample size and longitudinal design that allows temporal ordering among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents. Further, aspects of the UNC-CH findings were replicated in five other studies. The UNC-CH study, though, moved beyond previous ones by considering typical patterns found during adolescence and by examining gender differences.

The message is clear: teens engaging in risky behavior are at risk for depression. No wonder teen depression is so widespread when almost half (47 percent) of high school students reported in 2003 (the number has dropped since then) that during the past month they had had intercourse, 45 percent reporting drinking alcohol and 22 percent reported that they had used marijuana. Almost one-third of the students said that their feelings of sadness and hopelessness had kept them from doing normal activities over the past year.

It is important to also note that only four percent of students who abstained from drugs and sex had a problem with either depression or suicide.

So much for the cultural mantra that “sex is no big deal” and that all we need to do for teens is provide them with condoms and teach them “safe sex” practices.

Not surprisingly, this is another study to report that girls are far more negatively affected by early sexual activity than are boys. Sadly, too, girls who are already engaging in other risky behaviors have increased odds of drug experimentation if they are depressed. Depressed girls who are abstinent, however, have decreased odds of engaging in any high-risk behavior.

So, why is the left so determined to continue the myth that teens are going to “do it anyway”; that they are captive to their hormones so we must provide them with “protection” and ignore everything else?

College counselors tell us that depression on college campuses has doubled over the past decade and instances of suicide have tripled. We cannot afford to continue perpetuating the myth that “sex is no big deal.” It is a big deal; it always has been and always will be. Even if contraception and the prevention of disease transmission were 100 percent effective, which they most certainly are not, the psychological impact of meaningless, casual sexual intimacy – particularly upon young females – can never be eliminated. No amount of argument to the contrary will change that basic biological reality.

We ought to be telling adolescents the truth. We ought to make them aware of the possible consequences and the risks that they are taking when they choose to engage in certain high-risk behaviors. Scientific truths revealed in studies like the one from UNC-CH ought to prevail over the self-serving messages of the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood, organizations that perpetuate dangerous myths and whose financial survival depends upon girls and young women buying into those cultural myths.

Fortunately, the abstinence message seems to finally be getting through to teens: the latest data shows that teen sexual activity is down, teen out-of-wedlock births are down and teen abortions are down. Abstinence programs are getting more sophisticated, more effective and more widely available in the nation’s schools. Despite the smoke screen of some supposedly scientific evaluations by liberal researchers that purport to show no appreciable effect from abstinence programs, the hard data on the amazing declines in teen sexual activity and in the teen birthrate indicate that we are seeing positive results from pointing young women to the truth. So much for the phony claim that teens cannot control their sexual urges and that even if they could such repression would be detrimental to their emotional health!

It has been a long time coming, but the accumulating documentation regarding the destructive effects of sexual promiscuity has ultimately exposed the shamelessness, rationalizations and lies of the sexual libertines and radical feminists.

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Parkinson’s disease (also known as Parkinson disease or PD) is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer’s motor skills and speech.

The possibility of an ‘organically’ based depression intrinsic to the path physiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and comparable to endogenous depression (Major Depressive Episode) has been raised. It has also been argued that signs of depression observed in PD are merely the natural reaction of the patients to their progressive and inevitable physical limitations and loss of independent function Because conventional depression rating scales are limited in scope, a psychometric investigation of depression in PD was pursued

Based on the known impairment of short-term memory (STM) in endogenous depression, which was confirmed in a group of psychiatric patients in the present study, measures of STM were also obtained in groups of depressed and no depressed PD patients and in 15 normal control subjects.

Regardless of depression severity, PD patients performed as well as control subjects and both these groups consistently obtained scores significantly better than those of the endogenously depressed patients A relative weakness in the PD patients on order-dependent STM tests was further explored and interpreted as an indication of mild frontal lobe dysfunction
Depressive symptoms occur in about 45% of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). They reduce subjective and objective quality of life independent of motor deficits. Diagnosis of depression in Parkinson’s disease patients relies particularly on subjectively experienced symptoms, including anhedonia, the reduced capacity to experience pleasure.

It has been postulated that experiencing joy and pleasure depends on dopaminergic reward mechanisms in the limbic system, which are thought to be the basis of motivation, drive, and activation. In Parkinson’s disease, degeneration of dopaminergic neurons involves motor structures, including basal ganglia, but also structures of the limbic system. Degenerative processes in Parkinson’s disease may affect dopaminergic reward mechanisms and lead to anhedonia, loss of motivation, avolition and apathy. These pathophysiological mechanisms could explain effects of pramipexole, a novel dopamine agonist, on anhedonia and depression found in animal experiments and patients with major depressive disorder.

Anhedonia, a core symptom of depression, correlates with motor retardation in patients with major depressive disorder. Anhedonia has been assumed to be a frequent symptom in depressed patients with Parkinson’s disease. Like in major depressive disorder, anhedonia may also have an impact on motor functioning and activities of daily living in Parkinson’s disease. However, to our knowledge, no data exist regarding frequency and relevance of anhedonia in Parkinson’s disease.
Therefore, the aim of this open study was to investigate depressive symptoms in Parkinson’s disease and test the hypotheses that anhedonia is more frequent in patients with Parkinson’s disease compared with healthy comparison subjects, that anhedonic patients with Parkinson’s disease show more severe parkinsonian symptoms compared to nonanhedonic patients and that anhedonia is reduced during treatment with pramipexole.

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An antidepressant, in the most common usage, is a psychiatric medication taken to alleviate clinical depression or dysthymia (’milder’ depression). Several groups of drugs are particularly associated with the term, notably MAOIs and tricyclics (whose serendipitous discovery and psychiatric use dates from the 1950s) as well as SSRIs and more recent variations developed by pharmaceutical companies.

The new research, led by Dr. David Goltzman, a professor of medicine and physiology and director of the McGill Centre for Bone and Periodontal Research at McGill University in Montreal, seems to support the earlier studies.

"There is good scientific evidence that serotonin is involved in bone physiology, and if you alter the system, you can get low bone density," Goltzman said. "Patients should be monitored to prevent the risk of fractures."

For the study, Goltzman and his colleagues reviewed information on 137 patients — average age 65 — who took SSRIs. The patients had their bone mineral density measured at the start of the study and were followed for five years. Each year, the patients were also asked to report any fractures they had and how they occurred.

Goltzman’s team found these patients had twice the risk of fractures. They were particularly vulnerable to breaks of the forearm, ankle and foot, and less so to fractures of the hip, rib, femur, and back, the study found.

Goltzman’s group also found that use of SSRIs was associated with an increased risk of falling. The effect depended on the dose of the drug. Doubling the dose resulted in a 1.5-fold increase in the risk of falling.

Daily SSRI use was also associated with a 4 percent decrease in bone mineral density at the hip, and a 2.4 percent decrease at the spine, the researchers reported.

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from various Canadian research centres.

They looked at data from a group of patients of average age 65.1 who were aged 50 and over who were taking SSRI antidepressants on a daily basis. These patients were part of a larger study under the umbrella of the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos) Research Group. The CaMos group comprises a randomly selected, population-based cohort of 5008 adults aged 50 and over who are followed over 5 years for incident fractures.

The patients had been filling in questionnaires about their bone breakages cause by various minor events such as falling out of bed, off a chair, or similar minimal trauma incidents. All the fractures had been confirmed with radiographs.

The researchers found 137 patients within the CaMos cohort who were using SSRIs on a daily basis. The SSRIs they were using included: fluvoxamine (brand name uvox), citalopram (Celexa), fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft) and paroxetine (Paxil). These were the ones that were on the market at the start of the CaMos study.

After correlating the data from the bone fractures with the data on the SSRI intake, the results showed that taking SSRI antidepressants every day doubled the risk of "clinical fragility fracture" in adults aged 50 and over, even after taking into account various other factors such as age, hip bone mineral density, and estrogen levels.

The also found a dosage effect, where a 1.5 increase in risk of bone fracture was linked to a doubling of daily dose of SSRI.

The researchers suggest that doctors should take into account the risk of fragility fracture when they prescribe SSRI antidepressants to patients in this age group.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are antidepressants used to treat anxiety and personality disorders and depression. They increase the level of serotonin in the brain by stopping it being reabsorbed by the presynpatic cell, which leaves more of it around to produce its mood-altering effects.

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Are you a fragile person who tends to think about even the smallest things in life? Then you must have heard that you are stressed in life from the persons that are around you and those who are a part of your life. stress is not always a hick up, it is needed in small amount to bring the best output out of a person, but it becomes a problem when it gets out of proportion and then it starts creating a vacuum space around the person as if there is nothing else in the world apart from the thing that is stressing him or her. This is when things blow off and the person tends to forget that after all he is a human and has family and friends to look after. This situation is termed as depression and yes excessive stress surely leads to it.

Thus we can say that if there are nominations for the aspects that lead to depression, then the award will go to stress without any doubt. You can get as many examples as you want, all of them will prove that a person is never depressed until he or she gets a stressful job in hand which pressurize him or her to break under the immense pressure and finally getting mentally depressed.

It is a belief that the cause of depression is the stress due to excessive work load. It is not only about one kind of stress that can make you depresses, there are various forms of stress namely the social stress, which includes job stress or work load. Apart from this form there are problems in affairs, monetary worries, staying up late, uneven and unrestrained lifestyle, pressures of study and receiving high-quality grades. These are some of the events that can cause an equal amount and degree of stress in individuals. What happens is that the problems of children and other poor people do not get public and hence we remain unaware of the stress that these people face through out their lives. What we believe is only true for a limited class, the working class, but there are much more happenings that we do not see in the perspective.

Other events that could cause depression are: death among associates, change of work, moving to a new home, etc. While these events cannot be avoided, we must come up with an effectual pressure coping and treatment machinery to be able to prosper even in demanding circumstances. Once you understand to cope up with the stress levels, there is very little chance that you will be depressed in life.

One way to cope up with stress levels is to remain positive in life as negative thinking can make you shiver under pressure situations as you cannot think of anything else then a negative result which eventually makes it a vicious circle of depressed thoughts and hence the output is always a negative one. Positive thinking on the other hand can lift you up at the most crucial stages in life and hence there is nothing compared to a mentally tough person as far as working under stress is considered.

Thus live healthy and positive life, no one can make you depressed under any situation.

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