Dealing with the daily challenges of depression comes in different forms.
When the alarm clock wakes you up, do you get a knot in your stomach and pray for a reason to stay in bed all day? When your best friend asks you to hang out the upcoming weekend, do you get excited and accept the invitation? Closer to the outing, do you begin dreading it and looking for excuses to cancel?
Do you have moments at work, school, or socially where you cannot control your emotions? Like when you lash out at a coworker or get road rage? But then, when you get home to your spouse, do you feel emotionless, and no matter what you try, you don’t feel romantic or loving?
These are just a few examples of how depression can challenge your day-to-day life.
You Are Not Alone
Data shows more than 17 million Americans have at least one depressive episode. Out of those, 11.5 million had a depressive episode with severe impairment, one that interfered with their day-to-day life.
Depression is sometimes linked to suicidal thoughts, especially for those who have tried various treatments but have not experienced improvements. In America, suicide is the second leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15 and 34.
These numbers can significantly decrease if people receive appropriate treatment. Unfortunately, less than half of people with depression receive treatment.
Who Gets Depression?
Multiple factors are at play when someone has depressive symptoms. The more factors you have, the higher the chance of feeling depressed. Factors include the following:
- Genetics and traits passed down from family
- Social media and feeling envious of others
- Chemical imbalance in the brain
- Misusing alcohol or drugs
- Untreated past traumatic experiences
- Chaotic or abusive living environment
- Major and unexpected life changes, such as a death in the family or loss of a job
Do You Have Depression?
Only a mental health professional or doctor can diagnose you with a mental health disorder. However, they base their conclusions on the symptoms you share during a comprehensive evaluation. They will look for examples of the daily challenges of depression in your everyday life. They will compare those with the criteria outlined in the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual, fifth edition.
A diagnosis requires having five or more symptoms for at least two weeks. The criteria include the following:
- Depressed mood for most of the days
- Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
- Weight changes, usually due to appetite changes
- Thoughts and movements become noticeably slower
- Feeling tired and a lack of energy
- Feeling worthless or guilty
- Finding it hard to make decisions and concentrate
- Thinking about or attempting suicide
Non-Clinical Clues You May Have Depression
The DSM criteria are great, but you likely want to know what they look like in everyday life. Otherwise, you may chalk up your symptoms to aging, a phase, or situational depression and fall into the percentage who don’t receive treatment.
Depression at Work
Symptoms of depression at work can range from not wanting to go to spending too much time at the office. If you spend non-working hours worried about unfinished job duties or begin working overtime to ease your emotions, it could be a sign of depression.
Other clues include experiencing uncontrollable emotions at work, finding it hard to make decisions, being absent or late for work, making too many errors, and feeling negative physical symptoms while on the job. You may have symptoms like nausea, headaches, or digestive problems. In addition, if your feelings about your career have changed for no apparent reason, it could be depression. For example, if you once loved your job duties but now find yourself bored, angered, or indifferent.
Depression and Socializing
If you enjoyed socializing, hanging out with friends, meeting new friends, and engaging in activities outside the home but now prefer to avoid all contact with others, you might have depression. You may not even want to socialize with your family and get irritated when they try to engage you in conversation.
Potential symptoms of depression and socializing can include spending more time with others who are depressed, only connecting with friends through texts or virtual calls, avoiding gatherings with more than two people, or becoming codependent and losing yourself in a relationship.
Depression at Home
If all you want to do when you get home is isolate, eat, and sleep, then depression may be affecting you. Symptoms of depression at home can include:
- Lack of intimacy or desire for intimacy (low or no sex drive)
- Lack of empathy for family members (their problems can’t be as bad as yours)
- Inappropriate behaviors (infidelity, physical or emotional abuse)
- Thoughts of doom regarding your relationships (divorce is the only way to fix things)
- Emotional outbursts (you get irritated quickly and let them know it)
Treatment Works
Plenty of evidence shows the value of anti-depressants, group and individual therapies, holistic therapies, nutrition, fitness, and a combination. Because bloodwork and brain scans aren’t used for diagnosis, finding the right treatment for you may take time.
Traditional treatments do not work for some, even after multiple variations are prescribed. This is called treatment-resistant depression. Working with a psychiatrist who offers advanced treatment, like Ketamine therapy, is necessary in such cases.
Ketamine Therapy for Depression
Ketamine Therapy is a breakthrough treatment helping many people find relief from depressive symptoms. The Food and Drug Administration approved ketamine in a nasal spray to treat depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. Ketamine is administered in low doses in a clinical setting for six or more sessions.
With depression, neurotransmitters in the brain are not functioning correctly. Ketamine helps them perform to their maximum potential. In the process, they are retrained to work correctly. The effects of ketamine are long-lasting and offer people with treatment-resistant depression a happier life.
Don’t Let the Daily Challenges of Depression Stop You
Treatment for depression is available for anyone experiencing the daily challenges of depression in day-to-day life. Contact the experts at the Mental Health Center today to find the right treatment for your depressive symptoms.