What are signs of Depression?

According to a National Institute of Mental Health pamphlet titled Depression and Heart Disease, these are the signs and symptoms of depression:

• Ongoing sad, anxious or empty feelings
• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling guilty, worthless or helpless
• Feeling irritable or restless
• Loss of interest in activities or hobbies
• Feeling tired all the time
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering details or making decisions
• Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep or sleeping all the time
• Overeating or loss of appetite
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Ongoing aches and pains, headaches, cramps or digestive problems that do not respond to treatment.

8 Ways Depression is Dangerous for Your Health, a CNN Health article, lists the following health problems and their relationships to depression.

Depression and Heart Disease

Heart disease refers to a number of illnesses that affect the heart and the blood vessels. Doctors and researchers have known that people with heart disease suffer from depression more than healthy people. But did the depression come before, after, along with the heart disease and even contribute to the development of the patient’s heart disease? Recent advances in biological psychiatry have included discoveries of numerous neurochemical neuroendocrine and neuroanatomic alterations that contribute to increased vulnerability of depressed patients to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary artery disease (CAD). See The Relationship of Depression to Cardiovascular Disease.

Depression and diabetes

Patients with depression and diabetes in Relationship of Depression and Diabetes Self-Care, Medication Adherence, and Preventive Care,
showed three notable deficiencies in diabetes management – lack of physical activity, high nonadherence rates to oral hypoglycemic medicines and inadequate clinical monitoring of glycemic control. Coexisting major depression was associated with smoking, lack of exercise and unhealthy eating.

Depression and obesity

According to the 20 page study, Understanding the Relation Between Obesity and Depression: Causal Mechanisms and Implications for Treatment, research suggests that obesity and depression may be causally linked. Understanding and managing the mechanisms that link obesity and depression is crucial to the treatment of individuals who suffer from both conditions.

Depression and mental decline

In Depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in a community population of older persons, 4392 older people completed two or three structured interviews at three year intervals over 5.3 years. The results suggest that depressive symptoms predict cognitive decline in old age and may increase the likelihood of reaching some threshold at which dementia is clinically evident.

Depression and substance abuse

A 12 page National Institute on Drug Abuse research report, Comorbidity: Addiction and Other Mental Illness, explains that with comorbidity we must first recognize that drug addiction is a mental illness that stems from changes in the brain structure and function leading to compulsive and uncontrollable drug craving and seeking despite devastating consequences. Comorbidity, dual diagnosis, co-occurrence refers to substance abuse disorders that are comorbid with other mental illnesses. Drug abuse can cause abusers to experience one or more symptoms of mental illness. Mental illnesses can lead to drug abuse. Both drug abuse and mental illness are caused by overlapping factors such as brain deficits, genetic vulnerabilities and/or early exposure to stress or trauma. The high rate of comorbidity between drug abuse and addiction and mental disorders argues for a comprehensive approach to intervention that identifies and evaluates each disorder concurrently and provides treatment as needed.

Depression and cancer

The 36 page NIH State-of-the-Science Statement on Symptom Management in Cancer: Pain, Depression and Fatigue presents the following information.
Scientific discoveries have transformed cancer from a usually fatal disease to a curable illness for some people and a chronic condition for many more. It is estimated that there are nearly 9 million persons with a history of cancer in the United States. Of the estimated 1.3 million diagnosed per year, 60 percent will survive at least 5 years or more. Given these figures, addressing the effect of symptoms of cancer on individuals’ lives has become important to reduce the burden of cancer and its treatment. Among the symptoms are pain, depression and fatigue which may persist and appear after treatment ends. Cancer patients who experience depression need treatment but are often reluctant to seek treatment. If you are a cancer survivor who is experiencing depression, seek professional help.

Depression and pain

A National Institute of Mental Health essay titled Depression and Chronic Pain, defines chronic pain as pain that lasts for a week, months or even years and does not ease with regular pain medication. Chronic pain can have a distinct cause or no obvious cause. Chronic pain and depression often occur together. Chronic pain can worsen depression symptoms. Studies show that people with more severe depression feel more intense pain. People with depression have higher than normal levels of cytokines. Cytokines send messages to the cells that affect how the immune system responds to infection and disease including the strength and length of the response. Cytokines can trigger pain by promoting inflammation. Inflammation helps the body destroy and remove or isolate infected areas. Inflammation may cause pain, swelling, redness, heat and sometimes loss of function.
Many studies have found that inflammation may be a link between depression and illness. Fibromyalgia shows this link.Treating depression can help you manage your chronic pain.

Depression and suicide

A 44 page article from the MacArthur Foundation’s Initiative on Depression and Primary Care titled, Depression Management Tool Kit, offers primary care clinicians tools to assist with recognition and diagnosis, patient education, treatment and monitoring. But primary care doctors are not trained counselors. If you think you are at risk, seek help from a professional counselor. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness Walks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report for 2011 gave the following information. 39,000 people in the United States die by suicide every year. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. 90 percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their deaths. There are an estimated 8-25 attempted suicides for every suicide death.

So what does all this mean? Depression is real and significantly affects your brain, your body and your health. Depression can be treated. You must take charge of your own treatment. A trained counselor can help you face your depression. Don’t treat the symptoms. Treat the depression itself.