Depression: causes and how it manifests itself

The human body in general and the nervous system in particular have the ability to independently recover and self-organize. Each of us from birth has a certain “margin of safety”. People with a relatively weak central nervous system adapt less well to changing living conditions, which often results in the development of various kinds of neuroses. One of the common manifestations of nervous system disorders is sleep disturbances. Insomnia due to nervousness requires treatment; otherwise, an imbalance on the part of other organs and systems develops quite quickly.

How depression manifests itself

The main manifestation of depression is a persistent decrease in mood, the cause of which most often cannot be explained. The depressed mood itself is different from the grief that you experience during various misfortunes. A person suffering from depression usually cannot formulate his experiences due to the unusualness of the sensations, their difference from everything that he had previously experienced in life. Such people often resort to comparisons: “there is heaviness, stone, darkness in my soul”, “everything has lost its meaning, joy”, “life has become difficult”, “I feel as if I had a super-severe flu.”

Causes and risk factors for depression

Depression is not just an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Depression is caused by a combination of biological, psychological and social factors. In other words, your lifestyle, relationships, and how you deal with life's challenges have just as much, if not more, influence on depression than genetics. However, some risk factors make a person more vulnerable.

These include loneliness, lack of social support, recent stressful events, depression in family members, family or relationship problems, financial distress, childhood trauma or abuse, alcohol or drug abuse, unemployment and unqualified work, health problems or chronic pain.

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What are the causes of depression?

The cause of depression is inherited biochemical disorders at the level of the central nervous system. And also certain personality types: hypersensitive, scrupulous, pedantic, overly sensitive to failures, impressionable, vulnerable people are more susceptible to depression than others. We can talk about a risk group for depression: women suffer from depression much more often than men. If we talk about age, the lower limit for this group is 18-20 years old, the upper limit is 35-40. There is also a special form of depression that begins during menopause.

Treatment of depression

Knowing the causes of depression helps determine treatment tactics. If the reason is loneliness, then communicating with new people and making new friends will have a better effect on your mood than antidepressants. If depression is caused by a job that you don’t like, then changing the situation (changing jobs) will help the person more than going to a psychotherapist.

In addition, there are some universal tips that are useful in many cases.

Ask for help. Feelings of hopelessness are symptoms of depression that often prevent a person from seeking help; we need to try to overcome this.

Communicate. Good support can speed up your recovery. Isolation contributes to depression, so connect with people even if you want to be alone.

Lead a healthy lifestyle. It's not easy to do, but making lifestyle changes can have a major impact on you, your life in general, and your depression. Exercise regularly and get enough sleep for you. Review your diet - your diet should be healthy and correct.

Develop skills in managing and mastering emotions. Many people lack the skills to manage emotions, manage stress, and gain emotional balance. Developing emotion management skills can give you the ability to cope and adapt after loss, trauma, and adversity. In other words, by learning how to recognize and express emotions, you will become more psychologically and mentally resilient.

If support from family and friends, positive thinking, and developing emotional management skills are not enough, seek professional help.

There are many effective treatments for depression, including psychotherapy, medication, and sometimes alternative medicine.

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Is it possible to diagnose yourself?

Recognizing depression is not an easy task, but you can suspect the disease based on a combination of the following factors:

• diurnal mood swings with worsening in the first half of the day, especially in the morning, and improvement in the evening;
• a sharp decrease in mood is combined with inhibition of movements and thoughts;
• persistent, causeless decrease in mood over a period of weeks or months or periodically in the fall and spring;
• cases of prolonged, causeless depressed mood, if there have been suicide attempts in the family by close relatives, especially on the maternal side, or periodic situations of binge drinking among close relatives;

Their appearance is characteristic: a bent posture, people look much older than their years, they have dry, flaky skin, their hair splits, falls out, often turns grey, and their nails are brittle.

What to do if insomnia is associated with depression?

Obviously, if sleep disturbances are caused by depression, then it is necessary to deal with the problem by eliminating the causes of insomnia. However, there are a few basic sleep hygiene rules that are worth trying before visiting a specialist.

• Go to bed and get up at the same time, both on weekdays and on weekends.
• Don't overeat before bed—dinner should be light.
• Exercise only in the morning and afternoon. In the evening, it is better to take a leisurely walk in the fresh air.
• In the afternoon, reduce your consumption of tea, coffee and alcohol, and ideally, give up these drinks.
• Make sure your bed and pillows are comfortable. And don’t forget that a bed is a place for sleeping, not for watching TV, eating or while away your free time.
• Ventilate the room and dim the lights before going to bed.

Undoubtedly, insomnia caused by depression requires proper treatment. Therefore, do not be afraid of contacting a specialist - a psychotherapist. Doctors have many ways at their disposal to effectively correct disorders and normalize the quality of sleep and life. Depending on the severity of depression and sleep disorders, a specialist may recommend:

• rational, behavioral and cognitive psychotherapy;
• auto-training aimed at increasing self-esteem;
• biofeedback techniques;
• relaxation techniques;
• sleep deprivation - deliberate refusal to sleep for 36 hours or more.

In addition to psychotherapeutic techniques, the doctor may resort to medications to normalize sleep. At one time, the most commonly prescribed sleeping pills were barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and imidazopyridines. But their side effects: addiction, dependence and the need to increase the dose, led to the search for new effective and safe sleeping pills.

The search was crowned with success when the hypnotic (sleeping) properties of H1-histamine receptor blockers were discovered. Medicines in this group reduce the time it takes to fall asleep, increase the duration and quality of sleep, do not disrupt the structure and phases of sleep, and most importantly, do not have the side effects that make it necessary to abandon “classical” sleeping pills.

Chronic insomnia associated with depression is not the most pleasant type of sleep disorder and seriously impairs the quality of life. However, timely contact with a specialist and a significant arsenal of psychotherapeutic methods and modern medications are the only sure way to solve the problem. Don't be shy to ask for help. Believe me, everything can be fixed and good sleep will definitely return to you!

If depression is combined with a somatic illness, should you see a psychotherapist?

Yes. It should be noted that depression can manifest itself in various “masks”, for example: pain of various types, breathing problems (resembling asthma), binges, attacks of so-called vegetative-vascular dystonia. Diagnosis, in this case, can be helped by the mood swings characteristic of typical depression during the day, as well as other manifestations, such as rapid heartbeat, dilated pupils, and dry skin. Lack of appetite and constipation, also characteristic of depression, can be fatal as they last for several months.

Types of insomnia

Insomnia (insomnia) refers to various sleep disorders. Among them:

• problems falling asleep;
• feeling of insufficient depth of sleep;
• frequent awakenings, after which it is difficult to fall asleep;
• post-somnia disorders (characterized by excessively early awakening).

Please note: There is an opinion that we can already talk about sleep disorders if for several days in a row a person cannot fall asleep 15-20 minutes after going to bed.

Is depression curable?

Yes, but it won't happen overnight. Depression can be successfully treated in most cases. Depending on the type of depression and the severity of the disease, treatment and the time required for recovery can vary greatly. Severe cases of depression are treated in psychiatric clinics with antidepressants and tranquilizers. Moderately severe and mild depression is treated with a combination of antidepressants and various methods of psychotherapy or psychotherapy alone. In difficult cases, complete relief from depression is possible within six months to a year. If medications are used in treatment, the time frame is reduced to 3-5 months. There is also ultra-short psychotherapy, which allows you to significantly reduce the symptoms of depression in 5-10 meetings with a psychotherapist (psychotherapeutic sessions).

Masks of depression

Depression can occur differently in men, women, young people and older people, and these characteristics must be recognized.

Depression in men

Men often complain of fatigue, irritability, sleep disturbances, loss of interest in work and hobbies. In addition, their depression may manifest itself as anger, aggression, violence, restless behavior, or alcohol or substance abuse. Despite the fact that depression is twice as common among women, men have a higher risk of suicide than the fairer sex.

Depression in women

The increased incidence of depression among women is partly due to hormonal factors: severe premenstrual syndrome, the postpartum period, and menopause.

Women, more often than men, experience a conscious feeling of guilt, increased sleepiness, suffer from overeating and, as a result, problems with excess weight. Seasonal affective disorder is also more common in women.

Depression in teenagers

The dominant symptom in adolescence is irritability. A depressed teenager can be aggressive, sullen, and unrestrained. For some teenagers, depression manifests itself as a feeling of sadness, while for others it does not. Symptoms often include unexplained pain or discomfort.

Depression in older people

Depression is not a normal or natural part of aging. But some life situations that older people more often face (loss of loved ones, loss of independence and independence, health problems) can lead to depressive disorder.

Older people tend to complain about physical rather than emotional symptoms of depression, and therefore the problem often goes unnoticed. Depression in older adults is associated with fragile health, high mortality rates, and an increased risk of suicide, so prompt diagnosis and treatment are essential.

Postpartum depression

Many new mothers suffer from a short-term form of “postpartum sadness” or “postpartum blues.” Postpartum depression is a long-term and more serious condition that is partly caused by hormonal changes during pregnancy and the period after childbirth. The prevalence of this disorder averages about 13% of all mothers in the postpartum period. It usually occurs soon after childbirth, but any depression identified within 6 months after childbirth may be postpartum.

Causes

Now about the reasons that can lead to sleep disturbances:

• Events and situations that have a traumatic effect on the human psyche.
• Pain syndromes in neurological and somatic diseases.
• Long-term and uncontrolled use of psychoactive substances (alcoholic and caffeinated drinks, tobacco, narcotic and psychostimulant substances), medications (dietary supplements, cough and edema medications, phenytoin, theophylline).
• Long-term tobacco abuse.
• Apnea syndrome, i.e. night snoring.
• Disruption of the normal rhythm of wakefulness and sleep (work at night, sudden change of time zones, encephalitis, damage to the hypothalamus)