Saturday, March 23, 2024

I M Depressed About My Body

What Really Happens To Your Body When You’re Depressed

I’m 10 and Depressed Because of My Body

For many people, depression hits hard they suddenly find themselves enveloped in a veil of tears and debilitating hopelessness that makes it difficult to get through a normal day. For others, however, the signs may not be quite as obvious. In fact, because depression is a such a complex condition, it’s possible to be depressed without even realizing it.

“Most people think the only symptom of depression is intense or chronic sadness,” Maureen Werrbach, licensed therapist and owner of Urban Wellness Counseling in Chicago, Illinois, told me in an interview. “So many people overlook physiological symptoms.”

Here are some subtle ways your body could be warning you of an underlying mental health issue and saying that you’re depressed.

Help Yourself Help Others

Build a Support Network

Depression is, by nature, isolating. Connecting with others who understand can be an important step toward a new, healthier life. Share your feelings and gain strength by being part of a supportive group.

Connect When You Need To

Being a part of our community connects you with a sympathetic, nonjudgemental peer group that can help you get through tough times, any time. We’re here all day, every day, to support each other.

Learn

Knowledge is power! Our members enjoy a convenient and safe place to share and learn. Knowing more about how to help yourself and help others is one of the most important steps you can take toward a happier, healthier life.

Be There for Others

Supportive communities are only successful when there is mutual care. It feels good to share what you know with those who can use it, and to express your appreciation for their help. Together, we find hope and happiness.

Do I Need Health Insurance To Receive This Service

The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.

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Quick Read How Depression Affects Your Body And Mind

  • Depression is a serious but relatively common mental illness.
  • Anyone can develop depression, and it is a leading cause of disability worldwide.
  • Brain chemical imbalances may contribute to depression.
  • Other brain areas, such as the hippocampus, are involved as well.
  • Symptoms include tiredness, appetite changes and lack of energy and pleasure.
  • There is no cure for depression, but it is treatable with medications and therapy.

One thing we often dont recognize about mental health issues is that they affect so much more than the mind. Depression is no exception.

From sleep and eating to cognition and motivation, depression can affect most aspects of someones life.

Easy Foods To Keep Around

55 Deep depression quotes

Look for mood-boosting foods that dont require cooking or heating, such as:

  • pretzels and whole-grain crackers
  • dried, fresh, or frozen fruit
  • pre-made wraps or burritos
  • bottled whole juices, smoothies, or yogurt drinks
  • pre-sliced or individually wrapped cheeses

Even if youd rather avoid prepackaged or individually wrapped items that contribute to excess waste, these conveniences can make it easier to take care of yourself. Making the best choice for your health and wellness is nothing to feel guilty about.

Finally, dont get too caught up in making sure everything is healthy and nutritious. Its always better to eat something over nothing, and theres nothing wrong with occasionally treating yourself to something special.

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Mental Health Conditions: Depression And Anxiety

Depression is more than just feeling down or having a bad day. When a sad mood lasts for a long time and interferes with normal, everyday functioning, you may be depressed. Symptoms of depression include:1

  • Feeling sad or anxious often or all the time
  • Not wanting to do activities that used to be fun
  • Feeling irritable easily frustrated or restless
  • Having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
  • Waking up too early or sleeping too much
  • Eating more or less than usual or having no appetite
  • Experiencing aches, pains, headaches, or stomach problems that do not improve with treatment
  • Having trouble concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions
  • Feeling tired even after sleeping well
  • Feeling guilty, worthless, or helpless
  • Thinking about suicide or hurting yourself

The following information is not intended to provide a medical diagnosis of major depression and cannot take the place of seeing a mental health professional. If you think you are depressed talk with your doctor or a mental health professional immediately. This is especially important if your symptoms are getting worse or affecting your daily activities.

The exact cause of depression is unknown. It may be caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors.2 Everyone is different but the following factors may increase a persons chances of becoming depressed:1

What Causes Depression

According to some studies, depression may be caused by an imbalance of serotonin and norepinephrine, which are chemicals that help nerve cells and brain cells communicate with each other.

Depression is usually caused by a combination of multiple factors, including:

  • Family history of depression
  • Battling with a chronic illness or terminal stage of a disease
  • Medications such as:

Factors that increase your risk for depression include:

  • Lack of social support
  • Career failure or struggles with personal/social relationships

Also Check: The Causes Of Depression Do Not Include

The Risk Of Isolation

It can sometimes be hard to explain your thoughts and feelings to others. You might find it difficult to talk about your depression and instead you might cut yourself off from other people. The more overwhelming your symptoms, the more isolated and lonely you might become.

Without treatment and support, depression can have an impact on your relationships, work, finances and overall health, so it’s important to get help as early as possible. See our pages on treatment and support for more information.

“It feels like I’m stuck under a huge grey-black cloud. It’s dark and isolating, smothering me at every opportunity.”

What If I Am Not Happy With My Treatment

I Am Depressed | Dianna Paige | TEDxAllendaleColumbiaSchool

If you are not happy with your treatment you can:

  • talk to your doctor to see if they can suggest changes,
  • get an advocate to help you speak your doctor,
  • ask for a second opinion if you feel it would help,
  • contact Patient Advice and Liaison Service and see whether they can help, or
  • make a complaint.

There is more information about these options below.

Advocacy

An advocate is independent from the NHS. They are free to use. They can be useful if you find it difficult to get your views heard.

There are different types of advocates available. Community advocates can support you to get a health professional to listen to your concerns. And help you to get the treatment that you would like. They arent available in all areas.

You can ask an advocate to help you make a complaint. Advocates that do this are called NHS complaints advocates. They are free to use and don t work for the NHS. They re available in all areas.

You can search online to search for a local advocacy service. If you cant find a service you can call our advice service 0808 801 0525 . You can email us too at . We will look for you.

Second opinion

Talk to your doctor about your treatment to see if you can resolve the problem with them first. If you dont agree with their decisions about diagnosis or treatment, you could ask for a second opinion. You are not legally entitled to a second opinion, but your doctor might agree to it if it would help with treatment options.

‘PALS’

Complaints

  • Advocacy by clicking here.

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Symptoms And Causes Of Depression

Symptoms of depression can be very different from person to person. However, as a general rule, if you are depressed you feel hopeless, sad and lacking interest in things that used to make you feel happy.

Depression symptoms are bad enough to interfere with work, social life and family life, and can persist for weeks or months.

Doctors describe depression in one of three ways, depending on how serious it is:

  • mild depression it has some impact on daily life
  • moderate depression it has a significant impact on your daily life
  • severe depression this makes it nearly impossible to get through your life day to day

A few people with severe depression may have symptoms of psychotic depression.

Below is a list of depression symptoms it’s unlikely that one person would have all of them.

Whats The Difference Between Baby Blues And Postpartum Depression

The baby blues is a mild form of postpartum depression that many new moms experience. It usually starts 1 to 3 days after the birth and can last for 10 days to a few weeks. With baby blues, many women have mood swingshappy one minute and crying the next. They may feel anxious, confused, or have trouble eating or sleeping. Up to 80% of new moms have the baby blues. Its common, and it will go away on its own.

About 13% of new mothers experience postpartum depression, which is more serious and lasts longer. You are at a greater risk if you have a family history of depression or have had depression before.

Some of the symptoms include:

  • feeling like you cant care for your baby,
  • extreme anxiety or panic attacks,
  • trouble making decisions,
  • hopelessness, and
  • feeling out of control.

No one knows exactly what causes postpartum depression. If you think you have the symptoms, its important to get help right away. Postpartum depression needs to be treated. Talk to your doctor or call your local public health office.

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Getting Help For Body Dysmorphic Disorder

If you recognize yourself from the list of symptoms and have decided to seek help, this is a significant step towards your recovery. Research shows that many people with BDD have seen a dermatologist for ten years before they finally seek out a mental health professional.

You may feel ashamed of your compulsion, fearing that others will label you as vain or self-absorbed if you ask for help. But like other disorders rooted in anxiety, support is available.

Things To Look At When You Feel Bad About Your Body

97 Deep Depression Quotes And Sayings For A Painful Heart

Everyone has days where they feel terrible about their bodies.

Whether it’s prompted by a careless comment, a glimpse in the mirror, or just waking up feeling like crap, we’ve all been there. And body image issues can impact almost every part of your life. They can make your sex life less enjoyable, increase stress and anxiety and of course affect how and what you are eating.

Luckily, sometimes all it takes it a dose of reality or some kind words to snap you out of your body-hating downward spiral. Here are seven things to look at when you’re unhappy in your own skin:

1. Illustrator Colleen Clark’s amazing body image comic, which reminds us that our bodies don’t define us.

Check out the rest of the comic here.

2. This picture of what Barbie would look like if she were based on the average 19-year-old woman. Artist Nickolay Lamm used 3D printing technology and information from the CDC to create a “normal” Barbie — and the comparison to the doll is truly startling. This comparison proves that the beauty ideals we’re exposed to at a very young age are, for the most part, completely unrealistic.

4. “Same Love” singer ‘s body-positive message on Facebook:

5. One woman’s open letter apologizing to all her former weight-loss clients. In An August 2013 blog post, Iris Higgins revealed that in her position as a weight-loss consultant she often encouraged clients to undereat and criticized their bodies. She wrote:

Lola, 5: “I like my body because its magic.”

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How Is Depression Treated

If you have been diagnosed with clinical depression, treatment may involve working with mental health professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and mental therapists.

Medications

Therapy

Along with medications, you may also undergo psychotherapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. This type of therapy can help you find strategies for dealing with your symptoms.

Lifestyle changes

Even if you are taking medications and undergoing psychotherapy, certain lifestyle changes can enhance their effectiveness and help you prevent depressive episodes:

Stressed Or Depressed Know The Difference

If you are feeling overwhelmed by stress, you are not alone it’s practically a fact of life on college campuses. A poll conducted by mtvU and the Associated Press in the spring of 2009 reported that 85% of students say they experience stress on a daily basis.

Stress is good if it motivates you but it’s bad if it wears you down. Many factors can contribute to the stress you experience, and this stress can cause changes in your body that affect your overall physical, mental, and emotional health.

Depression is more serious and long-lasting than stress, and requires a different kind of help. In a 2010 survey by the American College Health Association, 28% of college students reported feeling so depressed at some point they had trouble functioning, and 8% sought treatment for depression.

The good news is that depression is a highly treatable condition. However, it’s not something you can snap out of by yourself, so it’s important to get help. How do you tell the difference between stress and depression? Both can affect you in similar ways, but there are key differences. Symptoms of depression can be much more intense. They last at least two weeks. Depression causes powerful mood changes, such as painful sadness and despair. You may feel exhausted and unable to act.

Here are common signs of stress and depression. Which fits you best?

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A Critical Inner Voice

If youve ever been bullied or seen anyone be bullied on a daily basis, then you know how much this can take a toll on you and destroy your mood.

Now imagine this voice isnt coming from the outside but is actually coming from yourself every day

No one intentionally tries to pick on themselves, but a lot of us do it unconsciously. Maybe it started after a few mistakes or failures, or maybe youre putting too much pressure on yourself.

It probably feels nothing at the very beginning, but if you slowly develop a critical inner voice and verbally attack yourself from the inside every single day, youll certainly end up feeling depressed.

It can be hard to recognize and diagnose this kind of depression because you cant see how hard you are on yourself, and in this particular case neither can the people around you.

Start noticing your thoughts and how you view yourself closely. Are you putting a lot of pressure on yourself and feel really bad if you dont live up to the expectations? Are you being over-critical all the time but have gotten so used to it that you dont see it?

A critical inner voice can easily lead to depression. If youre feeling depressed but cant figure out why then this might be the reason.

If youre struggling with this, you can start out by writing down everything that runs in your head for one day, and then take a look at what youve written. Would you speak like that to someone else?

Is It Stress Or Anxiety

If you’re feeling depressed, anxious, sad, or angry WATCH THIS!!!

Life can be stressfulyou may feel stressed about performance at school, traumatic events , or a life change. Everyone feels stress from time to time.

What is stress? Stress is the physical or mental response to an external cause, such as having a lot of homework or having an illness. A stressor may be a one-time or short-term occurrence, or it can happen repeatedly over a long time.

What is anxiety? Anxiety is your body’s reaction to stress and can occur even if there is no current threat.

If that anxiety doesnt go away and begins to interfere with your life, it could affect your health. You could experience problems with sleeping, or with your immune, digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems. You also may be at higher risk for developing a mental illness such as an anxiety disorder or depression. Read more about anxiety disorders.

So, how do you know when to seek help?

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When To Reach Out

It may be time to consider professional support when various strategies dont have an impact on depression symptoms or weight loss.

Getting treatment for depression can lead to improvements in all of your symptoms, including physical ones like fatigue, decreased appetite, and weight gain or loss.

Helpful treatments generally include therapy or a combination of therapy and medication, but a trained mental health professional can help you find the approach thats right for you.

When your depression medication seems a likely culprit for changes in appetite and weight, talk to your doctor or psychiatrist about making changes. It may take some trial and error to find a treatment that improves symptoms without causing unwanted side effects, but your well-being is worth the time and effort.

A nutritionist or dietitian can also help you develop an eating plan that meets your unique needs.

Common Features People With Bdd Focus On

With body dysmorphic disorder, any aspect of the face or body is fair game, but the most common things people focus on are:

  • Facial features, such as the nose.
  • Muscle size or tone.
  • Size and shape of genitalia or breasts.

You may feel like theres nothing you can do to feel better about the way you lookat least short of plastic surgery or a magic wand. But with the right coping techniques, you can develop the ability to step outside of yourself and view your appearance in a more holistic and positive way.

Body dysmorphic disorder vs. normal insecurities

Its natural to fixate on a large pimple or the size or your thighs from time to time. But if your preoccupation with your appearance causes you significant distress or interferes with your day-to-day life, those are signs that youre dealing with a bigger problem.

When you look in the mirror, is there a particular feature that jumps out at you that youd like to change? Do you feel the need to seek constant reassurance from your family or friends, even though you dont believe them when they tell you it looks fine? If the drive to improve your body or erase a particular flaw dominates your thoughts and actions, you may have BDD.

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