home - Two - Three - Four - Five
Summary: The following Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) attempts to impart an understanding of depression including its causes; its symptoms; its medication and treatments--including professional treatments as well as things you can do to help yourself. In addition, information on where to get help, books to read, a list of famous people who suffer from depression, Internet resources, instructions for posting anonymously, and a list of the many contributors is included.
Archive-name: alt-support-depression/faq/part1
Last-modified: 1994/08/07
alt.support.depression FAQ
==========================
Introduction
------------
Alt.support.depression is a newsgroup for people who suffer from all forms of depression as well as others who may want to learn more about these disorders. Much the information shared in this newsgroup comes from posters' experience as well as contributions by professionals in many fields. The thoughts expressed here are for the benefit of the readers of this group. Please be considerate in the way you use the information from this group, keeping in mind the stigma of depression still experienced in society today.
The following Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) attempts to impart an understanding of depression including its causes; its symptoms; its medication and treatments--including professional treatments as well as things you can do to help yourself. In addition, information on where to get help, books to read, a list of famous people who suffer from depression, internet resources, instructions for posting anonymously, and a list of the many contributors is included.
Updated and corrected versions will be posted periodically. Please send suggestions to address omitted.
This FAQ, and many other FAQ's, are available via anonymous ftp from
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/alt-support-depression/faq/part1
The directory and file name is located in the "Archive-name:" line in
the header. A mail server also exists for accessing the FAQ archives.
Send a message to
Table of Contents
Key:
Part 1 of 5
**Depression Primer**
**Types**
**Symptoms**
- What are the typical symptoms of depression?
**Causes**
- What causes depression?
Part 2 of 5
**Causes** (cont.)
- What initiates the alteration in brain chemistry?
**Treatment**
- What sorts of psychotherapy are effective for depression?
**Medication**
- Do certain drugs work best with certain depressive illnesses? What
are the guidelines for choosing a drug?
Part 3 of 5
**Medication** (cont.)
- If an antidepressant has produced a partial response, but has not fully
eliminated depression, what can be done about it?
**Electroconvulsive Therapy**
- What is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and when is it used?
**Substance Abuse**
- May I drink alcohol while taking antidepressants?
**Getting Help**
- Where should a person go for help?
**Choosing A Doctor**
- What should you look for in a doctor? How can you tell if he/she really understands depression?
**Self-care**
- How may I measure the effects my treatment is having on my depression?
Part 4 of 5
**Self-care** (cont.)
- How can I help myself get through depression on a day-to-day basis?
**Books**
- What are some books about depression?
Part 5 of 5
**Famous People**
- Who are some famous people who suffer from depression and bipolar disorder?
**Internet Resources**
- What are some electronic resources on the internet related to depression?
**Anonymous Posting**
- How can I post anonymously to alt.support.depression?
**Sources**
- Sources
**Contributors**
- Contributors
Depression Primer
Types
Q. What is depression?
Being clinically depressed is very different from the down type of feeling
that all people experience from time to time. Occasional feelings of
sadness are a normal part of life, and it is that such feelings are often
colloquially referred to as "depression." In clinical depression, such
feelings are out of proportion to any external causes. There are things in
everyone's life that are possible causes of sadness, but people who are not
depressed manage to cope with these things without becoming incapacitated.
As one might expect, depression can present itself as feeling sad or "having
the blues". However, sadness may not always be the dominant feeling of a depressed
person. Depression can also be experienced as a numb or empty feeling, or perhaps no
awareness of feeling at all.
A depressed person may experience a noticeable loss in their ability
to feel pleasure about anything. Depression, as viewed by
psychiatrists, is an illness in which a person experiences a marked
change in their mood and in the way they view themselves and the
world. Depression as a significant depressive disorder ranges from
short in duration and mild to long term and very severe, even life
threatening.
Depressive disorders come in different forms, just as do other
illnesses such as heart disease. The three most prevalent forms are
major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder.
Q. What is major depression?
Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms (see symptom list below)
that interfere with the ability to work, sleep, eat; and enjoy once-pleasurable
activities. These disabling episodes of depression can occur once, twice, or several
times in a lifetime.
Q. What is dysthymia?
A less severe type of depression, dysthymia, involves long-term, chronic symptoms
that do not disable, but keep you from functioning at "full steam" or from feeling
good. Sometimes people with dysthymia also experience major depressive episodes.
Q. What is bipolar depression (manic-depressive illness)?
Another type of depressive disorder is manic-depressive illness, also
called bipolar depression. Not nearly as prevalent as other forms of
depressive disorders, manic depressive illness involves cycles of
depression and elation or mania. Sometimes the mood switches are
dramatic and rapid, but most often they are gradual. When in the
depressed cycle, you can have any or all of the symptoms of a
depressive disorder. When in the manic cycle, any or all symptoms
listed under mania may be experienced. Mania often affects thinking,
judgment, and social behavior in ways that cause serious problems and
embarrassment. For example, unwise business or financial decisions may
be made when in a manic phase.
Q. What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?
SAD is a pattern of depressive illness in which symptoms recur every
winter. This form of depressive illness often is accompanied by such
symptoms as marked decrease in energy, increased need for sleep, and
carbohydrate craving. Photo therapy - morning exposure to bright, full
spectrum light - can often be dramatically helpful.
Q. What is Post Partum Depression?
Mild moodiness and "blues" are very common after having a baby, but
when symptoms are more than mild or last more than a few days, help
should be sought. Post part depression can be extremely serious for
both mother and baby.
Q. How is bereavement different from depression?
A full depressive syndrome frequently is a normal reaction to the
death of a loved one (bereavement), with feelings of depression and
such associated symptoms as poor appetite, weight loss, and insomnia.
However, morbid preoccupation with worthlessness, prolonged and
marked functional impairment, and marked psychomotor retardation are
uncommon and suggest that the bereavement is complicated by the
development of a Major Depression. The duration of "normal"
bereavement varies considerably among different cultural groups.
Q. What is Endogenous Depression?
A depression is said to be endogenous if it occurs without a
particular bad event, stressful situation or other definite, outside
cause being present in the person's life. Endogenous depression
usually responds well to medication. Some authorities do not consider
this to be a useful diagnostic category.
Q. What is atypical depression?
"Atypical depression" is not an official diagnostic category, but it
is often discussed informally. A person suffering from atypical
depression generally has increased appetite and sleeps more than usual.
An atypical depressive may also be able to enjoy pleasurable
circumstances despite being unable to seek out such circumstances.
This contrasts with the "typical" depressive, who generally has
reduced appetite and insomnia, and who is often unable to find
pleasure in anything. Despite its name, atypical depression may in
fact be more common than the other kind.
Symptoms
Q. What are the typical symptoms of depression?
A depressive disorder is a "whole-body" illness, involving your body,
mood, and thoughts. It affects the way you eat and sleep, the way you
feel about yourself, and the way you think about things. A depressive
disorder is not a passing blue mood. It is not a sign of personal
weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People
with a depressive illness cannot merely "pull themselves together" and
get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or
years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help over 80% of those who
suffer from depression. Bipolar depression includes periods of high
or mania. Not everyone who is depressed or manic experiences every
symptom. Some people experience a few symptoms, some many. Also,
severity of symptoms varies with individuals.
Symptoms of Depression:
* Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
* Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
* Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
* Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that you
once enjoyed, including sex
* Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping.
* Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain
* Decreased energy. fatigue, being "slowed down"
* Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts
* Restlessness, irritability
* Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
* Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such
as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain
Symptoms of Mania:
* Inappropriate elation
* Inappropriate irritability
* Severe insomnia
* Grandiose notions
* Increased talking
* Disconnected and racing thoughts
* Increased sexual desire
* Markedly increased energy
* Poor judgment
* Inappropriate social behavior
Q. What are the diagnostic criteria for depression?
Depression comes in many forms and in many degrees. Below, you will
find some of the most common depressive types, along with some of the
diagnostic criteria from the DSM-III-R (the official diagnostic and
statistical manual for psychiatric illnesses).
**Major Depression:** This is a most serious type of depression. Many
people with a major depression can not continue to function normally.
The treatments for this are medication, psychotherapy and, in extreme
cases, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Diagnostic criteria:
**Dysthymia:** This is a mild, chronic depression which lasts for two
years or longer. Most people with this disorder continue to function
at work or school but often with the feeling that they are "just
going through the motions." The person may not realize that they are
depressed. Anti-depressants or psychotherapy can help.
Diagnostic criteria:
**Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood:** This is the type of
depression that results when a person has something bad happen to
them that depresses them. For example, loss of one's job can cause
this type of depression. It generally fades as time passes and the
person gets over what ever it was that happened.
Diagnostic criteria:
Causes
Q. What causes depression?
The group of symptoms which doctors and therapists use to diagnose
depression ("depressive symptoms"), which includes the important
proviso that the symptoms have manifested for more than a few weeks
and that they are interfering with normal life, are the result of an
alteration in brain chemistry. This alteration is similar to
temporary, normal variations in brain chemistry which can be
triggered by illness, stress, frustration, or grief, but it differs
in that it is self-sustaining and does not resolve itself upon
removal of such triggering events (if any such trigger can be found
at all, which is not always the case.)
Instead, the alteration continues, producing depressive symptoms and
through those symptoms, enormous new stresses on the person:
unhappiness, sleep disorders, lack of concentration, difficulty in
doing one's job, inability to care for one's physical and emotional
needs, strain on existing relationships with friends and family.
These new stresses may be sufficient to act as triggers for
continuing brain chemistry alteration, or they may simply prevent the
resolution of the difficulties which may have triggered the initial
alteration, or both.
The depressive brain chemistry alteration seems to be self-limiting
in most cases: after one to three years, a more normal chemistry
reappears, even without medical treatment. However, if the alteration
is profound enough to cause suicidal impulses, a majority of
untreated depressed people will in fact attempt suicide, and as many
as 17% will eventually succeed. Therefore, depression must be thought
of as a potentially fatal illness. Friends and relatives may be
deceived by the casual way that profoundly depressed people speak of
suicide or self-mutilation. They are not casual because they "don't
really mean it"; they are casual because these things seem no worse
than the mental pain they are already suffering. Any comment such as,
"You'd be better off if I were gone," or "I wish I could just jump
out a window," is the equivalent of a sudden high fever; the
depressed person must be taken to a professional who can monitor
their danger. A formulated plan, such as, "I'm going to jump in front
of the next car that comes by," is the equivalent of sudden
unconsciousness: an immediate medical emergency which may require
hospitalization.
Depression can shut down the survival instinct or temporarily
suppress it. Therefore, depressed suicidal thinking is not the same
as the suicidal thinking of normal people who have reached a crisis
point in their lives. Depressive suicides give less warning, need
less time to plan, and are willing to attempt more painful and
immediate means, such as jumping out of a moving car. They may also
fight the impulse to suicide by compromising on self-injury --
cutting themselves with knives, for example, in an attempt to
distract themselves from severe mental pain. Again, relatives and
friends are likely to be astonished by how quickly such an impulse
can appear and be acted upon.
..
=================
- No change.
+ Added since last posting.
& Updated since last posting.
-----------
- What is depression?
- What is major depression?
- What is dysthymia?
- What is bipolar depression (manic-depressive illness)?
- What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?
- What is Post Partum Depression
- How is bereavement different from depression?
- What is Endogenous Depression
- What is atypical depression?
- What are the diagnostic criteria for depression?
-----------
- Is a tendency to depression inherited?
- How do you tell when a treatment is not working? How do you know
when to switch treatments?
- How do antidepressants relieve depression?
- Are Antidepressants just "happy pills?"
- What percentage of depressed people will respond to antidepressants?
- What does it feel like to respond to an antidepressant? Will I feel euphoric if my depression responds to an antidepressant?
- What are the major categories of anti-depressants?
- What are the side-effects of some of the commonly used antidepressants?
- What are some techniques that can be used by people taking antidepressants
to make side effects more tolerable?
- Many antidepressants seem to have sexual side effects. Can anything be done
about those side-effects?
- What should I do if my antidepressant does not work?
-----------
- Exactly what happens when someone gets ECT?
- How do individuals who have had ECT feel about having had the treatments?
- How long do the beneficial effects of ECT last?
- Is it true that ECT causes brain damage?
- Why is there so much controversy about ECT?
- If I plan to drink alcohol while on medication, what precautions should I take?
- What's the relationship between depression and recovery from substance abuse?
- What does the term "dual-diagnosis" mean?
- Is it safe for a person recovering from substance abuse to take drugs?
- How do you know when depression is severe enough that help should be sought?
- Where can I find help in the United Kingdom?
- Where can I find out about support groups for depression?
- How can family and friends help the depressed person?
-----------
-----------
=================
-----
--------
A. At least five of the following symptoms have been present during
the same two-week period and represent a change from previous
functioning; at least one of the symptoms is either (1) depressed
mood, or (2) loss of interest or pleasure. (Do not include
symptoms that are clearly due to a physical condition, mood-
incongruent delusions or hallucinations, incoherence, or marked
loosening of associations.)
1. depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated
either by subjective account or observation by others
2. markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all,
activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated
either by subjective account or observation by others of apathy
most of the time)
3. significant weight loss or weight gain when not dieting (e.g.
more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or
increase in appetite nearly every day
4. insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day
5. psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day
(observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of
restlessness or being slowed down)
6. fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
7. feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt
(which may be delusional) nearly every day (not merely self-
reproach or guilt about being sick)
8. diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness
nearly every day (either by subjective account or as observed
by others)
9. recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent
suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt
or a specific plan for committing suicide
B. (1) It cannot be established that an organic factor initiated and
maintained the disturbance (2) The disturbance is not a normal
reaction to the death of a loved one
C. At no time during the disturbance have there been delusions or
hallucinations for as long as two weeks in the absence of
prominent mood symptoms (i.e..- before the mood symptoms
developed or after they have remitted).
D. Not superimposed on Schizophrenia, Schizophreniform Disorder,
Delusional Disorder, or Psychotic Disorder
A. Depressed mood (or can be irritable mood in children and
adolescents) for most of the day, more days than not, as indicated
either by subjective account or observation by others, for at
least two years (one year for children and adolescents)
B. Presence, while depressed, of at least two of the following:
1. poor appetite or overeating
2. insomnia or hypersomnia
3. low energy or fatigue
4. low self-esteem
5. poor concentration or difficult making decisions
6. feelings of hopelessness
C. During a two-year period (one-year for children and adolescents)
of the disturbance, never without the symptoms in A for more than
two months at a time.
D. No evidence of an unequivocal Major Depressive Episode during the
first two years (one year for children and adolescents) of the
disturbance.
E. Has never had a Manic Episode or an unequivocal Hypo manic
Episode.
F. Not superimposed on a chronic psychotic disorder, such as
Schizophrenia or Delusional Disorder.
G. It cannot be established that an organic factor initiated or
maintained the disturbance, e.g., prolonged administration of an
antihypertensive medication.
A. A reaction to an identifiable psycho social stressor (or multiple
stressors) that occurs within three months of onset of the
stressor(s).
B. The maladaptive nature of the reaction is indicated by either of
the following:
1. impairment in occupational (including school) functioning or in
usual social activities or relationships with others
2. symptoms that are in excess of a normal and expectable reaction
to the stressor(s)
C. The disturbance is not merely one instance of a pattern of
overreaction to stress or an exacerbation of one of the mental
disorders previously described (in the entire DSM).
D. The maladaptive reaction has persisted for no longer than six
months.
E. The disturbance does not meet criteria for any specific mental
disorder and does nor represent Uncomplicated Bereavement.
------