Wutz it worth 2 ya? asked:


How is being bi polar different from clinical depression? Is being bi polar a disabilty, disease, both or neither?

Mrs S asked:


My husband struggles from clinical depression and I want to be supportive and help him overcome this. Our marriages is under severe distress and I know that I have to help him through this depression…any help would be great

baphometx asked:


Do you know of any books or websites that I can look at for help with severe clinical depression? Not mild or moderate depression; severe. There’s a big difference. What might help someone with moderate depression would make things worse for me.

Thanks for any help.

Madonna Camille Mamuri asked:




Many say that the best way to get someone’s attention is by showing them numbers. Because quantities are exact. Numbers give figures. Figures are concrete concepts which can persuade even the most skeptic of them all-even if it’s about teenage depression.

To start off, it is alarming that almost 20% (1/5) of teenage population experience clinical depression even before they reach their adulthood. Around 10-15% of teenagers show symptoms of adolescent depression at any time, while approximately 5% of teens are suffering from major depressive disorder. Despite the lack of social acceptance with regard to clinical depression as a valid health concern, it is noted that 8% of teens undergo depression, at least a year at a time. The percentage is definitely higher than the 5% of the general population suffering from the said mood disorder.

An episode of teenage depression generally last around 8 months. Teens who suffer from depression are predicted to have a 20-40% chance that their next depression attack can happen within the next two years, while there is a bigger chance of around 70% that there will another episode before they reach adulthood. It is interesting to note that a portion of teens have bouts of seasonal depression which usually takes place during winter season and in places of higher latitudes. The weather can be an element of this mood progression and it is something to be wary about.

Dysthymia, a mild but long lasting type of depression, affects 2% of the teenage population and the same percentage of teenage population develop bipolar disorder in their later years. Around 15% of teens who have major depression are later on diagnosed to develop bipolar disorder as well.

To sum it all up, teen depression can affect teenagers regardless of their social background, gender, income level, school, race or any other achievements. It is a fact that depression is one of the most common mental health disorder in the United States. Whether you are in your teens or adulthood, depression can strike you. Depression can have a serious effect on how teens will lead their lives and become productive individuals. Untreated depression or any mood disorder can be detrimental to their social and mental health.

David B. Smith asked:




Everyone knows what depression feels like. Everyone feels the blues at times. Sadness, discontent, and fatigue are natural parts of life. There is a relation between the blues and clinical depression, but the difference is like the difference between the sniffles and pneumonia.

Depressive disorders are whole person illnesses; they touch the body, feelings, thoughts, and behavior. The depression itself can make us feel as if it’s of no use to search for help. The nice news is that 80 to 90 percent of people with depression can be treated successfully, but the bad news is that only one sufferer in three seeks treatment. More bad news is that not quite half the American public perceives depression as a character flaw, rather than an illness or emotional disorder. In addition, only half of all cases of depression are exactly diagnosed, and only half of those get adequate treatment.

We tend to muddle depression, sadness, and grief. But the opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality – the power to experience a full range of emotion, including happiness, excitement, sadness, and grief. Depression is not an emotion itself. It’s not sadness or grief, it’s an illness. When we feel at our worst, sad, self-absorbed, and helpless, we are experiencing what people with depression experience, but they don’t recover from those moods without help.

The trademark of depression is a insistent sad or empty mood, sometimes experienced as tension or anxiety. Life is with out pleasure. People with slight depressions may go through the motions of eating, sex, work, or play, but the activities seem like pointless; people with more severe depression withdraw from these activities, feeling too worn-out, tense, or hostile to take part. There is often a nagging fatigue, a sense of being incapable of focusing, a feeling of being inefficient.

People with depression generally feel a lowered self-esteem. In a depression, you may feel that you are a defenseless victim of fate, but also feel that you don’t deserve any better. Feelings of guilt, shame, and hopelessness are common.

There are often a host of physical symptoms, of which sleep disturbances are key. People may have trouble falling asleep or may wake up early without feeling refreshed. Others may sleep excessively, again without feeling rested. Appetite may increase or decrease. There may be difficulty in sexual functioning. There may be harassing aches and pains that don’t act in response to medical treatment. But there are physical illnesses that cause symptoms like depression – Lyme depression, diabetes, thyroid conditions, anemia – and depressions can cause physical symptoms like other diseases.

If you are feeling depressed, it is important to be sure that an underlying health problem does not exist, and you should see your physician for a checkup. At the same time, if you know you have a health problem and are feeling depressed, don’t presume you will feel better once the health problem is under control.

There is a sequential process in the recognition of depression. First is a stage of confused pain in which the sufferer knows he suffers, but doesn’t know why. People often blame circumstances. Adolescents blame their home lives, married people blame their spouses, and employees blame their bosses. But there is recognition that the pain is not ordinary.

The second stage is recognition that something is definatley amiss. It may be that external circumstances have changed but the pain is on going, or it may be a slow recognition that the suffering is so dangerous that circumstances can’t be blamed. This is a painful recognition that often takes years. It is an acknowledgment of a damaged self. But because of the nature of depression, the self-blame and guilt that are manifestations of the disease, this acceptance does not always lead to seeking help.

People then may move to the third stage, a crisis that frequently leads to professional intervention and diagnosis. It is often a ******* attempt or psychiatric hospitalization. The diagnosis often provides hope, that treatment or a cure is possible, and explanation, a way to understand what has only been confusion before. The fact is that this is a diagnosis of a mental illness, with all the shame and stigma that that entails.

The fourth stage involves acceptance of an illness identity. Depression comes to be seen as an outside agent invading the self, rather than as a manifestation of the self.

It is essential that anyone suffering from depression gets good help from a competent, qualified professional. If the warning signs are clear, always seek a professional diagnosis. Going to a health professional with your problems could prove, at worse, embarrassing, if the problem is really just a seasonal case of the blues that can be treated with without medical intervention, but the potential cost of failing to diagnose a serious case of depression should far outweigh any concern about conceivable embarrassment.

Paul Courtney asked:




The pressures of modern living are also having a detrimental effect on our adolescent youth. Take a look at the following statistics and be amazed.

Figures never lie and they are perhaps the best means to highlight certain facts and when they are brought to the notice of the general public leave a lasting impression. It is important to gain the attention of all who want to learn about what the statistics are saying. There are no doubts that statistics are nothing more and nothing less than concrete concepts that have the power to sway even the most skeptical of minds, and it will even show the young generation the true picture with respect to adolescent depression.

Twenty Percent Of Teenagers Are Sufferers

The first thing that will make you sit up and take notice about statistics pertaining to adolescent depression is the news that nearly a fifth of the teenage population in the US has experienced a form of clinical depression, even before having gained full adulthood.

Not only that, but there are about ten to fifteen percents of teenagers that have shown symptoms of adolescent depression and another five percent of the teenage population will have suffered from significant depression.

Secondly, another alarming aspect to adolescent depression is the fact that there is not much social acceptance when it concerns teenagers with such a condition, and what’s worse is the fact that as many as eight percent of teenagers will have experienced the re-occurrence of depression at least once a year. This is alarming because only a mere five percent of the national population suffer from depression.

When a person suffers a bout of adolescent depression it will generally last for about eight months and teenagers are also at risk that the subsequent attack of adolescent depression will strike them within a mere two years and the chances of this happening are about twenty to forty percent, and there is also a seventy percent chance that they will experience another attack of adolescent depression before they have even reached full adulthood.

Thirdly, another feature of adolescent depression is that quite a few teenagers will suffer from attacks of seasonal depression. This form of depression is most likely to strike during the wintertime, it is also found in places where the altitude is on the high side. Even the weather can play a significant part in the onset of seasonal depression, which means that teenagers also need to be aware of these external effects on the state of mind..

Fourthly, other figures related to adolescent depression reveal that dysthymia or a mild form of depression that lasts for a long time will affect about two percent of teenagers and a like percentage of teenagers are also likely to suffer from bipolar depression when they grow older. In fact, it is thought that as many as fifteen percent of teenagers that have suffered from major depression will later on be at risk of developing bipolar depression.

Thus, it is safe to say that adolescent depression will affect teenagers no matter their social background, income level, gender as well as race or even their achievements and that adolescent depression is very common mental health problem affecting teenagers in the US.

blood_drop2003 asked:


My friend is autistic and has severe clinical depression unfortuanately just about everything his docs give him has caused really horrible side effects. They’re still working on something safe but in the mean time he’s dealing with some really serious depression. What are some safe natural inexpensive remedies for depression. I’m really worried about him and want to help. If you have any suggestions I’d really appriciate it.

Sikosm asked:

Moodgym – www.moodgym.anu.edu.au ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More information www.beyondblue.org.au http www.mentalhealth.org.uk http www.sph.umich.edu www.who.int ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 24-hr Counselling services in Australia: Lifeline – www.lifeline.org.au 13 11 14 Kids Help Line – http 1800 55 1800 (won’t show up on phone bills from landline telephone calls) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jett asked:


Please be curteous, I do not want to explain my past story to you. I suffered from severe clinical depression for nearly three years, and will never be fully cured. With therapy and medication over years I have gotten to the point where I can feel again. Feel pain, feel happyness, any emotion is like Heaven compared to nothingness. I became so physically sick that my body began to eat itself, I was down to 5’11 130 pounds at a point ( I was 5’11 170.)

I never want to forget the pain I felt or the strength it took to keep moving on. Are there any designs that symbolize these events?
Thank you all, I think I will get a friend to draw my phoenix idea.

Patty A. Harder asked:




In any given year, an estimated 13 million to 17 million Americans will suffer from some form of depression. Women are twice as likely to be depressed as men. And, in fact, one in every five women is expected to develop clinical depression at some point in her lifetime.

With startling statistics such as these, it’s no wonder that the drug companies continue to pump countless resources into developing new drugs to treat depression. But with a myriad of side effects, prescription antidepressants aren’t always the answer for people suffering from sub-clinical depression.

Although it’s always best to seek appropriate medical treatment when you’re depressed, for symptoms of mild to moderate depression, which is sometimes characterized as “the blues,” there are several self-help steps you can take to feel better fast. By focusing on these things each day instead of your sadness, you will be better prepared to battle the blues.

Step 1: Get a Complete Physical

Sometimes an underlying health condition, like hypothyroidism or a vitamin D deficiency, can induce or mimic feelings of depression. That’s why it’s important to get a complete physical with comprehensive blood work before you begin a depression self-help regimen.

Step 2: Exercise at Least 30 Minutes a Day

Exercise is your body’s built-in antidepressant. Just 30 minutes of mild to moderate activity a day (such as a brisk walk) will prompt your body to release hormone-like chemicals called endorphins. Endorphins create a feeling of euphoria and well-being in the human body and can even mask mild pain. If you’re feeling particularly blue, instead of wallowing on the couch, get up and get some exercise!

Step 3: Eat Healthy Meals and Snacks

Fluctuations in blood sugar can intensify feelings of depression. Because of this, nutrition is an important component of your depression fighting self-help system. To give your body the energy it needs to feel good and face life’s daily challenges, eat three small meals and two or three small snacks each day. Make sure you get plenty of lean protein and at least seven servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day. If you need a sweet treat, dark chocolate (in moderation) has been shown to have depression-fighting characteristics.

Step 4: Take Dietary Supplements

No matter how well you eat, it’s hard to get the recommended daily requirements (RDA) of all vitamins and minerals. At a minimum, take a high quality, high potency multi-vitamin each day. You may also want to take extra vitamin C and consider taking additional nutritional supplements that are known to have mood stabilizing properties (St. John’s Wort and 5-HTP are two examples).

Step 5: Avoid the News

If you’ve watched the news lately or checked the headlines on CNN.com, then you know there’s enough negativity in the world to make even the happiest person sad. If you’re battling depression, the news will only make you feel worse – so avoid it! If you need to check the weather report, try one of the online weather agencies because they don’t give you a helping of doom and gloom along with your forecast.

Step 6: Get Fresh Air and Sunshine

Depressed people tend to hibernate, shutting themselves off from the world. But this only makes them feel more sad and isolated. A great antidote to feeling blue is spending time with Mother Nature. Go to the park, the beach or your backyard. But get a little fresh air and sunshine each day.

Step 7: Get a Daily Dose of Spirituality

Doing one thing (or more) each day that lifts your spirits is essential when you’re fighting depression. Need a few suggestions? Watch your favorite feel-good movie, laugh out loud during a half-hour sit-com, read a few pages from a spiritually uplifting book, listen to a spirit-based instructional CD or DVD, spend 30 minutes playing with your pet or call a friend to catch up. Choose an activity that feeds your soul and leaves you feeling joyful.

Although severe depression should always be treated by a qualified health care professional, only 20 percent of depressed people actually receive the treatment they desperately need. By following the simple, self-help steps outlined in this article, you may be able to turn around your state-of-mind before clinical depression sets in.