What is Depressive Dissorder?
Depressive disorder (also known as depression) is a common mental disorder. It involves a depressed mood or loss of pleasure or interest in activities for long periods of time.
Depression is different from regular mood changes and feelings about everyday life. It can affect all aspects of life, including relationships with family, friends and community. It can result from or lead to problems at school and at work.
Depression can happen to anyone. People who have lived through abuse, severe losses or other stressful events are more likely to develop depression. Women are more likely to have depression than men.
What are the signs, symptoms and patterns of depression?
During a depressive episode, a person experiences a depressed mood (feeling sad, irritable, empty). They may feel a loss of pleasure or interest in activities.
A depressive episode is different from regular mood fluctuations. They last most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks.
Other symptoms are also present, which may include:
• Poor concentration
• Feelings of excessive guilt or low self-worth
• Hopelessness about the future
• Thoughts about dying or suicide.
• Disrupted sleep.
• Changes in appetite or weight
• Feeling very tired or low in energy.
Depression can cause difficulties in all aspects of life, including in the community and at home, work and school.
A depressive episode can be categorized as mild, moderate, or severe depending on the number and severity of symptoms, as well as the impact on the individual’s functioning.
There are different patterns of depressive episodes including:
Single episode depressive disorder, meaning the person’s first and only episode;
Recurrent depressive disorder, meaning the person has a history of at least two depressive episodes;
Bipolar disorder, meaning that depressive episodes alternate with periods of manic symptoms, which include euphoria or irritability, increased activity or energy, and other symptoms such as increased talkativeness, racing thoughts, increased self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, and impulsive reckless behaviour.
Contributing factors and prevention
Depression results from a complex interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors. People who have gone through adverse life events (unemployment, bereavement, traumatic events) are more likely to develop depression. Depression can, in turn, lead to more stress and dysfunction and worsen the affected person’s life situation and the depression itself.
Depression is closely related to and affected by physical health. Many of the factors that influence depression (such as physical inactivity or harmful use of alcohol) are also known risk factors for diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and respiratory diseases. In turn people with these diseases may also find themselves experiencing depression due to the difficulties associated with managing their condition.
Prevention programmes have been shown to reduce depression. Effective community approaches to prevent depression include school-based programmes to enhance a pattern of positive coping in children and adolescents. Interventions for parents of children with behavioural problems may reduce parental depressive symptoms and improve outcomes for their children. Exercise programmes for older persons can also be effective in depression prevention.
What is Anxiety?
Everyone can feel anxious sometimes, but people with anxiety disorders often experience fear and worry that is both intense and excessive. These feelings are typically accompanied by physical tension and other behavioural and cognitive symptoms. They are difficult to control, cause significant distress and can last a long time if untreated. Anxiety disorders interfere with daily activities and can impair a person’s family, social and school or working life.
What are the signs and symptoms?
People with an anxiety disorder may experience excessive fear or worry about a specific situation (for example, a panic attack or social situation) or, in the case of generalized anxiety disorder, about a broad range of everyday situations. They typically experience these symptoms over an extended period – at least several months. Usually, they avoid the situations that make them anxious.
Other symptoms of anxiety disorders may include:
• Trouble concentrating or making decisions.
• Feeling irritable, tense or restless
• Experiencing nausea or abdominal distress
• Having heart palpitations
• Sweating, trembling or shaking.
• Trouble sleeping
• Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom.
Anxiety disorders increase the risk for depression and substance use disorders as well as the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
There are several different kinds of anxiety disorders, including:
People may experience more than one anxiety disorder at the same time. Symptoms often begin during childhood or adolescence and continue into adulthood. Girls and women are more likely to experience an anxiety disorder than boys and men.
Contributing factors and prevention
Anxiety disorders, like other mental health conditions, result from a complex interaction of social, psychological and biological factors. Anyone can have an anxiety disorder, but people who have lived through abuse, severe losses or other adverse experiences are more likely to develop one.
Anxiety disorders are closely related to and affected by physical health. Many of the impacts of anxiety (such as physical tension, nervous system hyperactivity or harmful use of alcohol) are also known risk factors for diseases such as cardiovascular disease. In turn, people with these diseases may also find themselves experiencing anxiety disorders due to the difficulties associated with managing their conditions.
Effective community-based approaches to prevent anxiety include parental education and school-based programmes to enhance social and emotional learning and build positive coping in children and adolescents. Exercise programmes can also be effective in preventing anxiety disorders in adults.
Generalized anxiety disorder (persistent and excessive worry about daily activities or events);
Panic disorder (panic attacks and fear of continued panic attacks);
Social anxiety disorder (high levels of fear and worry about social situations that might make the person feel humiliated, embarrassed or rejected);
Agoraphobia (excessive fear, worry and avoidance of situations that might cause a person to panic or feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed);
Separation anxiety disorder (excessive fear or worry about being separated from people with whom the person has a deep emotional bond);
Specific phobias (intense, irrational fears of specific objects or situations that lead to avoidance behaviour and significant distress);
Selective mutism (consistent inability to speak in certain social situations, despite the ability to speak comfortably in other settings, primarily affecting children).
What is Stress?
Stress can be defined as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives. Everyone experiences stress to some degree.
How does stress affect us?
Stress affects both the mind and the body. A little bit of stress is good and can help us perform daily activities. Too much stress can cause physical and mental health problems. Learning how to cope with stress can help us feel less overwhelmed and support our mental and physical well-being.
What are the signs of stress?
Stress makes it hard for us to relax and can come with a range of emotions, including anxiety and irritability. When stressed, we may find it difficult to concentrate. We may experience headaches or other body pains, an upset stomach or trouble sleeping. We may find we lose our appetite or eat more than usual. Chronic stress can worsen pre-existing health problems and may increase our use of alcohol, tobacco and other substances.
Stressful situations can also cause or exacerbate mental health conditions, most commonly anxiety and depression, which require access to health care. When we suffer from a mental health condition, it may be because our symptoms of stress have become persistent and have started affecting our daily functioning, including at work or school.
Does everyone respond to stress the same way?
No, everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. Coping styles and symptoms of stress vary from person to person.
Should we expect to be stressed in difficult situations?
Yes, it is natural to feel stressed in challenging situations such as job interviews, school exams, unrealistic workloads, an insecure job, or conflict with family, friends or colleagues. For many people stress reduces over time as the situation improves or as they learn to cope emotionally with the situation. Stress tends to be widespread during events such as major economic crises, disease outbreaks, natural disasters, war, and community violence.
What is Emotional Dysregulation?
Emotional dysregulation is a range of emotional responses (emotions) that do not lie within a desirable scope of emotive response, considering the stimuli.
What causes Emotional Dysregulation?
Emotional dysregulation can be associated with an experience of early psychological trauma, brain injury, or chronic maltreatment (such as child abuse, child neglect or institutional neglect/abuse), or associated disorders such as emotional dysregulation may be present in people with psychiatric disorders such as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. In such cases as borderline personality disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, hypersensitivity to emotional stimuli causes a slower return to a normal emotional state. There is association with possibly being manifested biologically by deficits, in the frontal cortices of the brain. As such, the period after a traumatic brain injury such as a frontal lobe disorder can be marked by emotional dysregulation. This is also true of neurodegenerative diseases.
What are the signs and symptoms?
Possible manifestations of emotion dysregulation include extreme tearfulness, angry outbursts or behavioural outbursts such as destroying or throwing objects, aggression towards self or others, and threats to kill oneself. Emotion dysregulation can lead to behavioural problems and can interfere with a person's social interactions and relationships at home, in school, or at their place of employment.
Smoking, self-harm, eating disorders, and addiction have all been associated with emotional dysregulation. Somatoform disorders may be caused by a decreased ability to regulate and experience emotions or an inability to express emotions in a positive way. Individuals who have difficulty regulating emotions are at risk for eating disorders and substance abuse as they use food or substances as a way to regulate their emotions.
Emotional dysregulation is also found in people who have an increased risk of developing a mental disorder, particularly an affective disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder.
What is Mental Health?
Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Mental health is a basic human right, and it is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.
Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It exists on a complex continuum, which is experienced differently from one person to the next, with varying degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.
What affects Mental Health?
Throughout our lives, multiple individual, social and structural determinants may combine to protect or undermine our mental health and shift our position on the mental health continuum.
Individual psychological and biological factors such as emotional skills, substance use and genetics can make people more vulnerable to mental health problems.
Exposure to unfavourable social, economic, geopolitical and environmental circumstances, including poverty, violence, inequality and environmental deprivation – also increases people’s risk of experiencing mental health conditions.
Risks can manifest themselves at all stages of life, but those that occur during developmentally sensitive periods, especially early childhood, are particularly detrimental. For example, harsh parenting and physical punishment is known to undermine child health and bullying is a leading risk factor for mental health conditions.
Mental health risks and protective factors can be found in society at different scales. Local threats heighten risk for individuals, families and communities. Global threats heighten risk for whole populations and include economic downturns, disease outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies and forced displacement and the growing climate crisis.
Each single risk and protective factor has only limited predictive strength. Most people do not develop a mental health condition despite exposure to a risk factor and many people with no known risk factor still develop a mental health condition. Nonetheless, the interacting determinants of mental health serve to enhance or undermine mental health.
Signs you may need private therapy:
You may be feeling overwhelmed with everything. Overthinking and feeling as though you are unable to 'switch off' from your thoughts, struggle with your emotions and wish to change certain behaviours. Are you feeling low and more tearful than usual? Developed a poor sleep pattern or feel stressed? At times getting irritable or angry more easily or struggling to regulate your emotions? Do you try to cope with unhealthy distractions such as, drinking, gambling, reducing social interactions? Possibly experiencing unusual physical problems like a reduced dietary intake, digestive discomfort, lethargic or muscular aches and pains? If you are and you are reading this, you are in need and are ready to commit to therapy.
CLARITY will guide and support you to live and manage the life you want, and help you find a life worth living
