Archive for May, 2006
Depression Screening Test
by depressiondoctor on May 22nd, 2006
Depression is a clinical condition, which is characterized by an inability to concentrate, lack of sleep, loss of appetite, anhedonia (loss of interest in activities), feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death.
There are specific questionnaires that can be filled out to determine whether the individual is going through the depression or not. These questions are solely targeted to determine whether the individual is going through depression and in this article we are going to give you a depression screening test to fill out so you could see whether you are going through one or not.
Question 1: Do you feel sad, blue, unhappy or “down in the dumps”?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 2: Do you feel tired, having little energy, unable to concentrate?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 3: Do you feel, restless, uneasy, or irritable?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 4: Do you have trouble sleeping or eating (too little or too much)?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 5: Do you feel that you are not enjoying the activities that you used to?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 6: Do you feel that you lost interest in sex or experiencing sexual difficulties?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 7: Do you feel inadequate, like a failure or that nobody likes you anymore?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 8: Do you feel that it takes you longer than before to make decisions or unable to concentrate?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 9: Do you feel guilty without a rational reason, or put yourself down?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
Question 10: Do you feel that things always go or will go wrong no matter how hard you try?
a. Never.
b. Rarely.
c. Sometimes.
d. Very often.
e. Most of the times.
These are the 10 questions that will let you know as to where do you stand in terms of depression. If your answers are leaning more towards the d and e options then you are suffering from depression for sure, which means that you need to take the advice of your doctor as to what can be done in terms of treating your depression. Just answer the questions sincerely and you will get the true results. I hope this article will help you determine as to what are the different questions you are scoring the most, which will help you determine the feelings that you are going through right now and then you can determine as to what are the different things that are leading you to go through such feelings. You will come out of these feelings that are making you feel bad and you will be able to put yourself back in track and fill your heart with good feelings.
Story Of My Friend Who Went Through Depression
by depressiondoctor on May 14th, 2006
I have seen my friend suffering through depression right in front of my eyes and have seen her going too low in her moods, which was really pretty hurting. I have had problems communicating with her and that was very distressing for me.
I was unable to see my friend go through such lows in her life where she was unable to share anything with me and I honestly didn’t know what to do. I went to online forums that are specific for people who are going through the phases of depression and saw people talking about the misery that they had been going through and how they are overcoming it.
Those forums helped me a lot as to how I would be able to have a chance of helping my friend out. I also sent mails to a couple of groups who were helping people who were suffering from depression and they gave me a few tips and ideas as to how I can help my friend. Now I had some basic knowledge as to how I would be able to tackle this and help my friend come out of this miserable state she was in.
The first thing that I did was that I told her about the good days that we had and how we enjoyed different things to just loosen her up so I could get inside and know as to what is the problem that she is going through right now. To my surprise, she started responding on the different things that I was discussing and we just had a really good time that day and I never touched on the things that she was suffering through.
On that day when she started responding, I asked her that we will go out for dinner and it has been pretty long since we had such a time and she was just not feeling ready for it, but I pushed thing s a little and she agreed. Then we had a very nice day where we enjoyed dinner and had a good long drive. I was just waiting for her to share her feelings rather than me asking her as to what she is going through and she finally started to talk and told me as to what was taking her deep down and I told him that we can find a way to solve it and we will solve it and she does not have to worry about that.
The next day we sat down and find a way to solve her problem and then she was really happy finding a solution to it. You just cannot imagine as to how happy I was seeing my friend coming out of that feeling of depression and I felt really good inside that I was able to help my friend.
The people who are going through depression just hide themselves more if they are pushed, we just need to comfort them and give them space so that they could come out of their hideouts and share as to what they are feeling and we are all open to listen and help them out from the different things and phases that they are going through.
Internet Helping People With Depression
by depressiondoctor on May 9th, 2006
Depression is a feeling of sadness, despair and hopelessness that can last for days or even months. These feelings just make the individual drown and the people are not able to come up to the surface to breathe fresh air but are being captured throughout by these feelings, which make them isolate from their surroundings and leave them all alone.
The only way that the individual can come out of these feelings of despair is when they allow themselves out of these feelings, but if they do not allow them to be free from them, these feelings just chain themselves up with them and do not let them free. In order to come out of these feelings, it is really necessary that the individuals come out of it, else the feelings will not free them.
If you are an individual who is computer savvy and who knows how to surf on computer, you can very easily find the different forums present on Internet where a lot of people come online and talk on different issues that they are going through and thus help each other understand and support as to how they can combat these feelings and how different people have come out of their depressed feelings and have found a new life where they are now living a bright and a happy life.
The way you can find the online forums would be that you pull up your browser and then open up the search engine of your choice such as www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.altavista.com etc. and then in the search bar you must type “Depression Forums” and you will see that there are a lot of online depression forums and you can pull up these forums and can chat with different people who are discussing on different issues and you can participate and share your feelings, which will help you being open and discuss the different problems that you are going through.
I hope that this article is going to help you find a way where you will be able to overcome your depressed feelings and starting feeling alive again.
I am copy pasting one link for you to check it out. http://www.depressionforums.org/forums/index.php?act=home
Depression & Mania
by depressiondoctor on May 4th, 2006
There are conditions where depression does not present itself as a single entity, but present themselves with some other behavioral disorder known as mania. This condition where both the depression and the mania present itself are known as bipolar disorder.
Bipolar means that we need to consider to poles at the opposite extreme direction, where one entity lies such as depression and on the other end lies mania. The individuals who are going through this condition just oscillate between these two feelings and they either display the symptoms of depression or mania.
In mania the individual is pretty hyperactive and they talk and move pretty fast. In this state the individual has extreme sex desire and decreased inhibition. These individuals then switch from being into the manic state to depressive state in which they feel sad, hopeless and filled with despair.
It is also being said that the individuals who suffer from the bipolar illness might have the genetic predisposition of this illness and thus suffer through the symptoms of bipolar disease.
It is always best that this problem is being diagnosed in the earlier stages and thus would help the individual from suffering the symptoms of this problem. Therefore, whenever you feel that you are going through the symptoms of bipolar disorder, you must seek the help of a physician who could analyze your condition or you could simply refer yourself to a psychiatrist so that you can get the treatment for this condition as soon as possible.
You must realize that this problem is seriously affecting the mental health of your family and for that matter it is really necessary that you realize that the treatment of this condition is really necessary for you.
Some people do not opt to get themselves checked by a doctor or a psychiatrist because they think that nothing is wrong with them and they keep on spending their lives the way they had been and the situation gets worse and worse with time. This will not only uproot your life, but will also put your family into a life full of flames and anger and distorted mind. So it is vital that you opt to have treatment for your family and your loved ones so that you all can spend a happy life.