Know More About Depression

Hello everyone!

I am Dr Omkar Mate consultant neuropsychiatrist practicing at Midas Clinic Nerul. I am going to talk today about depression and anxiety, which are common psychological disorders seen today.

Depression and anxiety are the most common disorders, let us talk first about depression, 8 out of 10 females and 4 out of 10 males suffer from an episode of depression in their lifetime. Indian studies till date show that around 4.5 crore people have suffered from an episode of depression till year 2015. There are some myths commonly seen with depression, let us see what they are. The first myth is people feel that low willpower causes depression, now the truth is depression is a multi-factorial illness. It may be due to stressful life situations like a break up or somebody passing away and it may be because of illnesses, like hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, tuberculosis or other chronic illnesses, but all these things are nothing but triggers. What happens actually in a person's brain is certain neurochemicals reduce that means serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain of a depressed person are low and that is why he gets stuck in thinking which we call as ideas of hopelessness, helplessness and worthlessness. Another myth seen in depression, about depression is that only adult suffer from depression, the truth is people from all age group suffer from depression. 1 out of 100 children and 1 out of 10 females suffer from depression after pregnancy, even older age group people suffer from depression. Another myth is you have to take depression medicines for life and also these medicines are addicted. The truth about this is that medicines for a depression increase the levels of Neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain this helps a depressed person to think positively. However, if you suddenly stop medicines for depression for some days you may have disturbed sleep and also the episode of depression can recur, this makes people believe that depression pills are addictive. But tell me even medicines for diabetes and hypertension, if a person suddenly quits them the blood sugar levels are the blood pressure of a person may rise does that means that these medicines are addictive, the answer is no. Similarly depression medicines are not addictive and if a person reaches a psychiatrist earlier, early then these medicines can be stopped after complete treatment. Depression is one of the few psychiatric disorders which can be cured completely. Now let's look at some symptoms of depression feeling low, forgetfulness, impaired concentration, having no interest or less interest in pleasurable activities, like watching movies, reading books, listening to music, being angry all the time or getting irritated at small things, decrease sexual drive, disturbed sleep, waking up at night, feeling that death is better than life, these are some of the symptoms of depression. If anybody suffers from 4 or 5 of these symptoms for a period of more than two weeks then that person should immediately seek help from a psychiatrist or a counsellor and get yourself checked for depression. Let us fight the stigma against depression, create awareness.

If you have any further queries about depression you can contact me through Lybrate. Thank you.