Depressive disorders
Disorders
Depressive disorders
It is quite common for people to use the concept "being depressed" as a synonym for being sad or having a low mood. Although colloquially accepted, we must understand that feeling this way from time to time is part of the normal mood swings. To be able to consider that we are really facing depression, a series of criteria must be met and depending on these we can classify ourselves into one or another disorder.
Types of depressive disorders:
Major depressive disorder
Depression is mainly characterized by low mood and a significant loss of interest or the ability to enjoy things that previously seemed pleasant. Other symptoms include motor activation or slowing down, reduced energy, difficulty concentrating, and sleep and appetite disturbances. Additionally, the person may have recurring thoughts of death and feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt.
Dysthymia
It is a chronically depressive mood with milder characteristics and that lasts for at least 2 years. Thus, although the variety of symptoms is the same as in depression but with a lower intensity.
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PDD)
Depressive symptoms that occur about a week before menstruation and disappear after menstruation. There may be affective lability (mood swings; suddenly being sad or tearful, or increased sensitivity to rejection), severe irritability, depressed mood, decreased interest, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy, changes in appetite and physical symptoms such as muscle pain and bloating, among others.
Other common forms of depression include:
Depression during peripartum
It consists of an alteration of the mood, of moderate to severe intensity, that occurs during pregnancy or after the woman has given birth, and may appear shortly after delivery or up to a year later. The main symptoms are a low mood or sadness most of the time, along with other symptoms common to those of depression.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
is a mood disorder characterized by the presence of symptoms of depression during a certain time of the year, which are especially associated with the lack of light, and which generally occurs in autumn and winter.
Other depressive disorders
There are other types of depressive disorders, less common, but equally treatable.
Causes:
There are several factors that influence the development of these disorders:
Psychological factors:
Loss of general interest in the environment that surrounds them since what previously interested you and made you feel good stops doing it Tendency to have negative expectations about events Feeling that what happens to us is uncontrollable.
Social factors:
Perception that something is dangerous when it is not Constant anticipation of negative consequences of actions Expectations of uncontrollability
Biological factors:
Problems during the reuptake of serotonin Problems during the reuptake of norepinephrine Inheritability: There is a high family concordance rate.
Forecast:
People who develop a depressive disorder usually have an average of 4 or 5 episodes during their life and the average duration of these is 8 months. In addition, in people who have remitted depression, they have a percentage of relapses during the first year of 30% and a percentage of relapses throughout their life of 75% At Instituto Carbonell, we evaluate and treat all types of disorders of the state of mind, in an interdisciplinary way, adapting to the characteristics and individual needs of each patient.
