What are the signs and symptoms of depression?
- Feeling depressed, sad, or irritable
- Low motivation, not interested in things, hard to get going
- Sleeping too little or too much
- Weight loss or weight gain
- Tired, low energy
- Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
- Not feeling worthwhile
- Thoughts of death or harming oneself
If you have many of these symptoms and certainly if you have thoughts of self-harm, seek a professional
opinion from a licensed mental health practitioner. Not all depressions are equally serious. For most depressions of
mild to moderate severity,
psychotherapy works as well as antidepressants. The benefit of psychotherapy
is that there is less chance of relapse when you stop the treatment. There is a 50% relapse with medication compared
to 20% if you have had therapy. Therapy teaches tools to handle depression if it arises again.
The type of psychotherapy
that has been found to be successful is
Cognitive-Behavioral. This therapy involves working with
shifting dysfunctional thoughts and core beliefs to more positive and useful ones with structured exercises. The behavioral
component may involve the integration of social contact, activities and exercise into the plan to reduce depression.
There is good news for exercise enthusiasts. Exercise reduces depression and also anxiety. The impact
on depression is equal to that of taking an antidepressant. Most of the research is based on aerobic exercise of 3 times a
week for 30 minutes. This is do-able. The fitness level does not matter. Start where you are and continue.
