Depression Treatment

Depression is a common mood disorder that can cause serious symptoms in many individuals. These symptoms often make daily activities a difficult struggle and require proper diagnosis and treatment from a physician specializing in psychiatric disorders, like You First Telehealth.

People may generalize depression to be a lingering feeling of sadness, but depression can include many specific symptoms, such as:

• Anxiety
• Loss of interest in enjoyed activities
• Tearfulness
• Feeling hopeless
• Frequent thoughts of death or suicide
• Intense fatigue
• Difficulty in remembering things or concentrating
• Trouble sleeping or excessive sleeping
• Fixating on life problems or past failures
• Increased irritability
• Feelings of guilt
• Sudden anger
• Slowed speech and/or body movements
• Changes in appetite
• Physical discomforts like back pain or recurring headaches

Not every individual will experience symptoms of depression in the same way. These unique variances may include several of the symptoms listed above, which may range in severity from one person to another. In order to be diagnosed with a major depressive episode, an individual must experience symptoms consecutively for at least two weeks.

Depression can be characterized in several unique ways, including five primary forms of this disorder.

Many women experience mild depressive symptoms in the first few weeks after delivering a child, but postpartum depression is different than this common syndrome termed “baby blues.” Women with postpartum depression may experience symptoms of extreme sadness, fatigue, and anxiety while pregnant or soon after giving birth.

Previously known as dysthymia, persistent depressive disorder is a mood disorder that lasts for a period of two years or more. During this length of time, individuals with a persistent depressive disorder are likely to experience varying intensities in their symptoms, leading them to battle severe depression at some moments, and mild symptoms at others.

This particular subtype of depression causes depressive symptoms to frequently occur during winter months when less sunlight is available during the day. Symptoms typically subside or lessen as the months progress into the spring and summer seasons, but are likely to return once winter approaches.

There is no one cause of depression, and this mood disorder may arise at any age. Most often, depression is first diagnosed in early adulthood, and may be influenced by the following factors:

• Family history of depression
• Major trauma or personal stress
• Side effects of a medication
• Related medical problems or serious illness

Just as symptoms can vary significantly between various people with depression, so too can the recommended treatment options. Prescribed medications often provide relief, and may also be implemented in conjunction with psychotherapy.

In order to determine what course of treatment is best for an individual, they must personally discuss their symptoms with a mental health specialist. Recommendations from You First Telehealth may also change later in treatment if initial solutions begin to lose their effectiveness, or if the individual experiences sudden bouts of more severe symptoms.