2024-01-14 01:10:11
Thanks to greater awareness of mental health problems, cases of depression are detected more accurately.
January 13 marks World Depression Awareness Day, at a time when the psychosocial conditions of society are complex and we are experiencing an increase in affective disorders.
We talk to the psychiatrist Ana Isabel Sanzfounder of the Ipsias Psychiatric Institute, to clarify which symptoms indicate a diagnosis of depression and in which cases we tend to confuse it and even label depression as an emotion such as sadness, necessary but from which we flee.
Depression affects emotions, thoughts, behavior and body functioning
Depression “involves a qualitative alteration in the lack of relationship with the nature of events and in the lack of consistent response to positive stimuli. And also a quantitative alteration in the intensity and persistence of sadness or irritability,” explains the doctor.
It is a pathological state of mind, which involves abnormal functioning of certain brain areas and various substances that regulate them (neurotransmitters, hormones, molecules that also intervene in inflammation…). In this way, depression affects emotions as well as thoughts, behavior and bodily functioning, particularly circadian rhythms, appetite and energy level.
Signs that indicate a clear diagnosis of depression
Dr. Sanz clarifies that it is not always easy to detect unequivocal symptoms for the diagnosis of depression. She explains those that leave no room for doubt when diagnosing clinical depression:
“The manifestations in the clearest cases are the sustained alteration of mood for a period of time of no less than two weeks. This mood alteration consists of disproportionate sadness as a reaction to an adverse event or irritability without reason Of course”.
Associated with these states of mind is “the decrease in the ability to enjoy things and relate to other people. Also the alteration of mental functioning, with a decrease in attention and the ability to concentrate or even think clearly.”
When this happens, thoughts tend to pessimistic or even catastrophic vision of the present and the future.
It also affects the quality of sleep, in some cases in the form of insomnia and in others (less so) as excessive sleep, appetite, decreasing or increasing it disproportionately, loss of vitality, excessive fatigue and difficulty in starting. any activity.
Main symptoms according to the level of severity of depression
The psychiatrist indicates that in the more difficult cases to diagnose, the symptoms of depression focus exclusively on the body. Depression in these cases is hidden behind various symptoms that patients often do not relate to a mental health problem.
“They are symptoms in the body such as pain, gastric discomfort or other organs, which usually motivate multiple consultations with different specialists before requesting a specialized evaluation for mood disorders.”
There are different levels of severity within a diagnosis of depression, the doctor summarizes what the main symptoms are in the most serious cases.
Depression can range from dysthymia (less intense depressive symptoms but sustained over time) to mild, moderate or severe episodes. The existence of suicidal ideation, delusional ideas (that is, ideas that do not conform to reality) or intense inhibition of behavior or the opposite extreme, excessive agitation, are the main elements to evaluate the most severe cases.
It may also happen that we believe we are dealing with a case of depression when there is an intolerance of sadness, difficulty facing frustrations or fear of grieving in the face of significant losses.
In these cases, “especially in people with difficult characters, people They may mistakenly assume that you have depression.”
What is sadness and why don’t we know how to accept it?
Sadness is among the natural and healthy emotions that all human beings experience, mainly when faced with losses, disappointments or experiences of failure.
Likewise, sadness is “a complex reaction, with components that focus on thinking, the functioning of the organism and behavior.”
In this sense, the reactions caused by sadness can be concentration on the problem that causes that emotion and difficulty in focusing attention on other matters, disturbance of the sleep rhythm, decreased appetite, modification of facial expression, crying. frequent, decreased activity level or withdrawal from social situations.
Dr. Sanz affirms that it is a reaction that is undoubtedly painful, but “necessary and useful to face difficult situations, learn and reflect or even to improve our ability to establish empathic bonds with others.”
However, it is difficult for us to accept it and it is common for many people to resort to saying “I am depressed” when in reality they are just sad. Why don’t we accept sadness as normal and necessary?
According to the doctor, there is no doubt that “contemporary society tends to flee from it, to reject it in oneself and in those around us because despondency makes us afraidit produces rejection in us, seeing it as a sign of weakness and as a source of pain, which we want to avoid above all.”
This attitude of flight is consistent with the search for pleasure typical of our time, which “does not help to cope well with the inevitable frustrations of life nor to balanced personality development or affection towards others,” explains psychiatrist Ana Isabel Sanz.
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