Understand the psychological condition of your friends.

Information:

What are the symptoms of depression

In fact, depression does not only involve Our emotions are a "systemic" disorder. It is extremely destructive to our bodies and our psyches. Depression mainly includes four aspects of symptoms:

(1) Emotional symptoms

Emotional symptoms are the most significant and common symptoms of depression. The emotional symptoms of patients with depression mainly include two aspects: depressed mood and loss of interest. The lives of patients with depression seem to be full of helplessness and despair. If a patient with depression is asked to describe her mood, she will often say: "sad, helpless, hopeless, lonely, unfortunate, dejected, worthless, humiliating, ashamed, depressed, ashamed..." Although the basic mood of a depressed patient is depression , but their mood, or their depression, varies over time. Even within the course of a day there can be variation. Generally speaking, depressive symptoms are most obvious in the morning, and patients often feel that they have almost no strength to get out of bed. As the day goes by, the mood gradually improves, and the mood is relatively best at night. Another mood symptom that's almost as common as depression is the loss of interest: People with depression often don't experience the joy of life. The things they used to be interested in and the activities they liked to participate in now no longer interest them at all. Loss of interest often begins with certain activities, such as work. However, as depressive symptoms progress, patients gradually lose interest in almost everything. For those who like to play chess, dust slowly accumulates on the chessboard; for those who like to play ball, you will never see him on the court; for those who like to attend parties, you will never hear his voice at parties. Finally, even basic biological instincts, such as food and sex, fail to arouse any passion in them.

(2) Cognitive symptoms

Cognitive symptoms are another major symptom of depression. It is mainly reflected in self-blame for no reason, exaggerating one's own shortcomings and minimizing one's own advantages, which shows a kind of cognitive illogicality and impracticality. People with depression always evaluate themselves negatively. This kind of negative thinking cast a thick layer of gray in his eyes about himself and the future. He is often convinced that he is a failure and that the reasons for his failure are all his own. He is convinced that he is inferior, not smart enough, not good enough, not good enough, not rich enough, etc. In short, nothing will succeed and there is no hope. These views of people with depression are often distorted and inconsistent with reality. When a setback occurs, people with depression place all the blame on themselves. Some severely depressed patients even believe that they are responsible for injustice and inequality in the world and that they should be punished for their "sins."

(3) Motivation symptoms

The motivation symptoms of patients with depression include a lack of motivation to do anything. Different people of us have different levels of motivation. Most of us are able to get up on time in the morning, go to work or school on time, and actively look for ways to entertain ourselves and others. However, for patients with depression, let alone actively looking for various ways to entertain themselves, it is extremely difficult for them to start doing anything and requires a huge self-struggle. Patients with severe depression will lie in bed motionless every day with disheveled hair, not thinking about food or food all day long, frowning, being taciturn, or even crying. If they did move at all, it was noticeably slow.

(4) Physical symptoms

The most hidden are the physical symptoms of depression. As depressive symptoms progress, all biological and psychological pleasure is lost. Patients with depression often have a poor appetite. Even for people who usually love to eat, fine wine and delicious food cannot whet their appetite. People with depression often become thin. There are also various problems with sleeping. It is difficult to fall asleep at night, and I wake up early in the morning. Even if I fall asleep, the quality of my sleep is very poor. Without a good appetite and poor sleep, the patient will gradually become weak and tired. The sexual life of patients with depression will also be affected. Erectile dysfunction in men and sexual frigidity in women are common phenomena. The emergence of various physical symptoms often weakens the patient's resistance to physical diseases. Therefore, patients add another reason for anxiety and depression: their own health.

In fact, for ordinary people, there is no need to make such a detailed distinction. Here, we summarize the main clinical symptoms of depression:

Somatic symptom cases (%) Psychological symptom cases (%)

Headache 90 Restlessness (unpleasant, sad) 100

Insomnia 78 Lack of concentration 84

Dizziness 73 Slow thinking 62

Pain (general) 48 Lack of interest 61

Memory loss 43 Lack of self-confidence 60

Anxiety 39 Suspicion 51

Weakness 35 Hopelessness 50

Loss of energy 30

How to distinguish between normal Low mood and depression

The state of mind during depression is similar to the well-known sadness, but it is more lasting. The patient is in a low mood, worried all day long, frowning, and sighing.

The worst is melancholy, depression, pessimism and despair. I always feel that "three hundred and sixty days a year, the wind and frost threaten each other; how long can the bright and beautiful beauty last, and it is difficult to find it once it is wandering". The patient's self-evaluation is very low, so that he is indifferent to life. He often feels that "life is like years" and "life is worse than death." The more they blame themselves and sin, the more negative thoughts they have, and the beautiful world turns gray in their eyes.

Specifically, the difference between depressive symptoms and normal low mood is:

(1) The former exceeds the boundaries of normal variation in degree and nature, and often has strong Suicidal intention;

(2) May have autonomic or somatic accompanying symptoms, such as early awakening, constipation, anorexia, weight loss, hyposexuality, listlessness, etc. In addition, it is often accompanied by psychiatric symptoms or Manifestations of neurosis.

China’s diagnostic standards

In fact, the standards commonly used in China are similar to those in the United States. According to domestic diagnostic standards, within two consecutive weeks, the patient exhibits more than five of the following nine symptoms, and includes at least one of symptoms (1) and (2) (these symptoms must be symptoms that the patient has not had before) (or extremely mild), it can be diagnosed as depression.

1. Being depressed most of the day, either self-reported by the patient (for example, feeling sad, empty in the heart) or observed by others (for example, secretly crying).

Note: In children and adolescents, it can manifest as irritability rather than overt depression. 2. Loss of interest in all or most of the activities that usually interest you most of the day. Either through patient self-report or through observation by others.

3. Significant weight loss or increase (5% of normal weight), significant decrease or increase in appetite.

Note: In children, consider the lack of normal weight gain.

4. Insomnia or excessive sleep every day.

5. Psychomotor activity increases or decreases every day (not just subjective feelings of restlessness or unwillingness to move, but can be observed by others).

6. Feeling tired and lacking energy every day.

7. Feeling worthless every day, or feeling guilty and self-deprecating (may have delusions). This isn’t just ordinary self-blame, or just feeling ashamed of your depression.

8. Concentration and thinking ability decrease every day, and I am hesitant to make decisions. (Self-report or observation by others)

9. Frequently think about death (not just fear of death), or often have suicidal thoughts but no specific plan, or have specific plans to commit suicide, or even have Suicidal behavior.

What are the dangers of depression

The number one danger of depression is that it can lead to suicide

According to U.S. data, the suicide rate of patients with clinical depression is ten percent. China does not have exact statistics in this regard. What concerns us is not the exact statistics, but the idea that the suicide rate among depressed patients is quite high. Experts predict that by 2020, depression will become the second killer of humans after cancer, and because there are particularly many female patients, the World Health Organization has listed it as the number one threat to women's health.

The second greatest harm of depression is that it brings infinite pain to patients

Depressed patients live in a gray world all day long, losing their fun in life, learning and work efficiency. greatly reduced. At the same time, they also suffer from physical symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, and weakness. You may be surprised by how much depression affects your overall functioning. Depression drains your energy and reduces your interest in life. It will make you feel as if you are stuck in a quagmire, unable to move forward, everything you do will feel difficult, and you will not even dare to face things that are easy. Sexual desire often disappears prematurely because your mind turns inward and is focused only on yourself. The body's daily rhythms are disrupted, with changes in appetite, activity, and sleep. Sleep is often disturbed and it is difficult to recover mentally. Depression feels different at different times of the day. If the cause of depression is closely related to problems during the day, your financial mood will definitely become more and more serious during the day, making you unable to sleep well, because you are suffering from all kinds of distress, and all the problems are crowded into your mind, turning over and over. Disturbing your rest.

The third major harm of depression is that it brings a lot of misfortune to the relatives and friends of patients with depression.

It is very painful to live with patients with depression. At the same time, people with depression can affect the quality of life of those around them. A depressed mother is extremely detrimental to the growth of her child, and the child's depression is also likely to bring about a depressed mood in the parents. If the husband is depressed, the wife will not have a good life either. From the above symptoms of depression, it is not difficult to imagine how much impact patients with depression have on the quality of life of their relatives and friends.