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Last Wednesday, the world celebrated World Mental Health Day by raising awareness of mental illness, psychoeducation and types of psychotherapy.
In his efforts to eliminate stigma associated with mental health problems and treatment, Dr. Ahmed Valli (FCPsych), psychiatrist, and Dr. Liezel Anguelova (D.Litt and Phill), consulting psychologist at Life Roseacres Hospital , describe depression. , its symptoms and ways to treat the disease.
Depression is an illness that seriously affects the life, work performance, enjoyment of leisure and personal relationships of the person.
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The difficulty in diagnosing depression lies in the fact that no one has exactly the same symptoms.
Below are a number of common symptoms:
• Sadness, emptiness and inability to enjoy life.
• Irritability.
• feelings of anxiety.
• Loss of interest in personal appearance.
• Constant feeling of tiredness / lack of energy.
• Physical symptoms, such as headaches or back pain.
• Concentration issues.
• Loss of interest in previously carried out activities.
• fluctuations in sleep and eating habits.
These symptoms often develop over several weeks or months, and many symptoms will be present at the same time.
A number of effective drugs, as well as psychological interventions, are available. By visiting your doctor and diagnosing your depression, you have already taken the first step towards recovery.
According to Dr. Valli and Dr. Anguelova, an effective treatment for depression usually requires a combination of medication and counseling or a psychotherapy.
Antidepressant medication:
A large number of effective drugs are available for the treatment of depression.
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
• Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI).
• Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs).
Since people react only to different medications, your doctor will carefully consider the choice of the most appropriate drug for your treatment.
Advice:
The advice, used in addition to antidepressants, is an important part of the treatment of depression.
• Helps to identify the causes of depression and anxiety.
• Helps recovery and reduces the risk of relapse.
• Counseling can take different forms: trauma counseling, counseling in the event of death or bereavement, marriage and family counseling.
• Counseling is a process and it is important that counseling sessions are followed regularly.
Depression is often also a difficult condition for family and friends to understand.
Therefore, they may need help to understand their depressed family member.
The popular belief is that depression is something that you can simply "withdraw" from, while it is a serious illness.
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Self-help and support groups:
It is often helpful to talk to other people with depression. This can reassure people that they are not the only person to feel the feelings associated with depression.
Your doctor or counselor should be able to provide contact information for self-help groups in your area.
Visit these sites for more information on depression: www.depnet.com, www.lundbeck.com or www.firstsupport.ca.
To find a support group contact:
• Support Group for Depression and Anxiety in South Africa at 0800 567 567 or visit www.sadag.org.
• Depression and Anxiety Support Group at 011 783 1474/6 or by fax at 011 884 7074 or visit www.anxiety.org.
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