Can Someone With Bipolar Disorder Be Treated Without Medication
Although it is possible that during the natural course of the illness individual patients may get well without any medication, the challenge is that it is impossible to identify or determine beforehand who those fortunate patients are. Although some patients dont get well or just have partial response to the best available treatments, on averageand for the vast majority of patientsthe benefits of medications outweigh the risks.
Does Depression Cause Brain Damage
The longer an episode of depression lasts, the greater the likelihood of a recurrence of depression. That is because depression changes the brain in ways that are only now yielding to understanding. The sustained stress that triggers depression releases a cascade of hormones linked to shrinkage of the hippocampus, a part of the brain essential for storing and retrieving memories. Such an effect accounts for the memory problems those with depression typically experience.
Its not clear whether treatment with current antidepressants always restores the size of the hippocampus. There are other cognitive changes due to untreated depression, such as a sustained bias to recalling negatively coded information, another hallmark of depression.
Untreated depression also changes the activity of substances that help regulate the mitochondria, the energy factories of all cells but which are especially critical to function of the brain because it is such a metabolically active organ. Through this mechanism and others, untreated or chronic depression can pave the way for the cognitive decline of dementia. Increasingly, depression is regarded as a neurodegenerative-like disease.
What Are The Symptoms Of Depression And How Is It Diagnosed
The NHS recommends that you should see your GP if you experience symptoms of depression for most of the day, every day, for more than 2 weeks.
Doctors make decisions about diagnosis based on manuals. The manual used by NHS doctors is the International Classification of Diseases .
When you see a doctor they will look for the symptoms that are set out in the ICD-10 guidance. You do not have to have all of these to be diagnosed with depression. You might have just experience some of them.
Some symptoms of depression are:
- low mood, feeling sad, irritable or angry,
- having less energy to do certain things,
- losing interest or enjoyment in activities you used to enjoy,
- reduced concentration,
You may also find that with low mood you:
- feel less pleasure from things,
- feel more agitated,
- find your thoughts and movements slow down, and
- have thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
Your doctor should also ask about any possible causes of depression. For example, they may want to find out if youve experienced anything traumatic recently which could be making you feel this way.
There are no physical tests for depression. But the doctors may do some tests to check if you have any physical problems. For example, an underactive thyroid can cause depression.
On the NHS website, they have a self-assessment test which can help you to assess whether you are living with depression: www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/clinical-depression/overview/
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Appetite And Weight Changes
Depression in and of itself can make someone feel like eating more or less than they typically do. People who are depressed may report they have lost weight without trying or have gained weight without being sure of the reason why.
One factor that may contribute to weight gain is emotional eating which refers to a person using food to self-medicate feelings of depression. These behaviors can lead to weight gain over time. If someone is overweight or obese, changes in self-image, associated health problems, and weight stigma can also contribute to depression.
The relationship between weight and depression may depend on more than how much someone weighs.
For example, a 2019 study proposed a specific link between higher amounts of body fat mass and depression .
Depression can also cause someone to lose weight. Loss of appetite, low energy, and motivation that makes preparing meals difficult, bowel symptoms, and other factors may cause weight loss in someone who is depressed. People who have eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, often also have depression or another mental illness.
Weight loss in eating disorders can be extreme and may cause a host of physical symptoms. Several studies have suggested that malnutrition from inadequate food intake may worsen depression, though additional research is needed to support the theory.
Treatment Can Counter Emotional Tolls
Although persistent anxiety and depression are highly treatable with medications, cognitive behavioral therapy and talk therapy, without treatment these conditions tend to get worse. According to Dr. John Frownfelter, treatment for any condition works better when doctors understand the pressures patients face that affect their behavior and result in clinical harm.
Dr. Frownfelter is an internist and chief medical officer of a start-up called Jvion. The organization uses artificial intelligence to identify not just medical factors but psychological, social and behavioral ones as well that can impact the effectiveness of treatment on patients health. Its aim is to foster more holistic approaches to treatment that address the whole patient, body and mind combined.
The analyses used by Jvion, a Hindi word meaning life-giving, could alert a doctor when underlying depression might be hindering the effectiveness of prescribed treatments for another condition. For example, patients being treated for diabetes who are feeling hopeless may fail to improve because they take their prescribed medication only sporadically and dont follow a proper diet, Dr. Frownfelter said.
Some changes to medical care during the pandemic have greatly increased patient access to depression and anxiety treatment. The expansion of telehealth has enabled patients to access treatment by psychotherapists who may be as far as a continent away.
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Depression And Physical Health
Depression is widely thought of as a mood disorder based in the brain, but it is in fact a whole-body disorder. Lethargy, for example, is a common sign of depression that robs people of the will to move. But the links between depression and the body are more than just psychological. Depression has effects on body metabolism that limit available mental and physical energy. Depression negatively affects almost every system of the body. It disrupts sleep, affects appetite, alters the perception of pain, and weakens immunityin addition to darkening your thinking and your outlook so that you cant envision a brighter future ahead. Depression is so much a body disorder that experts believe that the vast majority of cases show up in doctors offices expressed primarily in physical symptoms such a chronic pain and fatigue.
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Incorporate Other Healthy Lifestyle Changes One At A Time
Dont try to fix everything at once. Thats especially true if one of the habits you want to break is smoking.
Quitting smoking can be difficult. If you smoke, talk with your health care professional to determine if you need medications or other help to quit. Therapies may include nicotine replacement or prescription medicines. You could also ask for a referral for a smoking cessation program.
Ultimately, you have to take care of yourself to break the cycle of feeling down. That could be doing something structured, such as a yoga class or tai chi practice, or something you can do anywhere, such as meditating, listening to music or reading a book.
Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed by science and medicine advisers. See our editorial policies and staff.
Last Reviewed: Jun 22, 2021
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What Are The Physical Effects Of Depression
Depression is a common mental condition that can mentally make us feel sad and lose motivation, but it can also affect our bodies significantly and can contribute to additional disorders. This article will discuss these physical symptoms as well as the long term effects of depression so that you can recognize the signs and start treatment as soon as possible.
Sleep Disturbances
Everyone needs sleep to recover and function properly, but depression can interfere with people’s sleeping habits, which can have many health consequences such as :
- Higher blood pressure
- An impaired immune system
- Metabolic changes
However, a lack of sleep caused by depression can also contribute to the issue by negatively impacting one’s mood and their cognitive performance. Insomnia is often closely related with depression, and it can either be a side-effect of it or a precursor to the condition.
Approximately 75 percent of patients with depressed effects have symptoms of insomnia, and it can severely reduce a person’s quality of life and increase their risk of suicide.
If you or a loved one are experiencing suicidal thoughts, reach out for help immediately. The National Suicide Prevention Lifelinecan be reached at 1-800-273-8255 and is available to assist 24/7.
This is typically done through a combination of prescribed medication from a doctor and directly addressing the sleep habits and hygiene that cause insomnia or hypersomnia.
Eating Habits
Digestive Problems
Body Pain And Discomfort
Incorporating Physical Symptoms Into Treatment Goals
As with any general medical disorder, full remission should be the long-range objective in the treatment of mood disorders. Many physicians consider a patient to be in remission from depression when his or her acute emotional symptoms have abated, but residual symptoms, including physical symptoms, increase the likelihood of relapse. Physicians should move beyond simple treatment of acute symptoms to a model in which patients are treated until full remission is achieved a virtually asymptomatic state rather than simple response should be the ultimate goal of therapy. Many patients treated with antidepressants fail to achieve full remission, and the costs, both social and economic, of relapse or residual symptoms are high.
Numerous studies have shown79 that patients with major depression who have residual symptoms after treatment have higher relapse rates and they relapse earlier than do those without residual symptoms. In fact, relapse rates are 3 times higher in individuals who have residual symptoms after they have achieved significant improvement than in individuals with no residual symptoms.8 One may infer, then, that the likelihood of relapse is significantly reduced in patients who attain asymptomatic remission.
The Relation of Residual Symptoms to Relapse in Depressiona,b
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Depression Medication: Antidepressant Drug Options
You have a variety of choices for antidepressants. Some of the most common are SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These help the brain to regulate the release of serotonin and dopamine these are brain chemicals thought to be responsible for creating feelings of happiness and satisfaction. Common brand names are Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft.
What Are The Treatment Options For Prenatal Depression
Often people are told by those around them you should get some help without a lot of guidance on how to do so, Dr. Koire points out. So what does getting help actually look like? Often, it starts with talking to your obstetrician or primary car provider about how youve been feeling dont brush off your symptoms or expect that theyll just resolve on their own. Treatment can include psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the two. Postpartum Support International can be a helpful resource for finding local providers. Dr. Koire also suggests a newly launched mental health hotline: the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline which provides 24/7, free, confidential support before, during, and after pregnancy.
If youre in the grips of a serious mental health crisis and are feeling actively suicidal, you need emergency care: going to the emergency room may be a necessity in those more serious situations.
In short, prenatal depression can affect your baby, but the worst thing you can do is be caught in a shame spiral and not tell anyone about your feelings. Monk sums up the main message that mental health providers want their patients to hear: Prenatal depression is common and treatable. Do reach out for help to feel on the road to being back to your usual self, for you and your baby.
Experts:
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Three Signs Your Teen Needs Therapy
All that being said, depression does seem to be associated, albeit inconsistently, with certain changes in brain chemistry , disordered cortisol levels, and certain indicators of chronic inflammation, as well asless convincinglyminor changes in brain structure and the effects of specific genes inherited from our parents.
It is known that depression tends to run in families, but research to date has identified only genes of small effect in certain people, so the precise mechanisms whereby some families have increased risk of depression and other mental illnesses is not yet known.
What Were The Findings Of The Study
The team found that a genetic marker that predisposes maladaptive stress response traits and vulnerability to depression was linked to sensitivity to one type of regret, while healthy and stress-resilient animals were instead sensitive to a second type of regret. These novel findings could have broad implications for multiple fields, including psychiatry, psychology and behavioral economics, and could affect the future design of targeted therapies for mood disorders in humans, said Sweis.
Is regret exaggerated and do individuals hyper-ruminate on past decisions, or are those with depression numb to this emotion? Is this adaptive or maladaptive, and are individuals unable to learn from their mistakes? For patients struggling with depression, there has been no clear description of regret as a defining feature of the condition, he added.
Building on previous work demonstrating that rats and mice are capable of processing regret-like thoughts, the Mount Sinai Hospital study pushes the boundaries of what can be captured in rodent models used for the study of mental illnesses. The authors reached this goal by combining sophisticated approaches in behavioral economics and chronic stress procedures with viral gene therapy to study the neural and molecular basis of complex decision-making in animals.
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Mental Effects Of Depression
Depression is a mental illness, so the mental effects are usually brought up first. Its a common misconception that depression just makes you sad. Depression can cause a number of symptoms, including:
- Feelings of worthlessness and guilt
- Lack of pleasure when partaking in activities
- Loss of focus or determination
- A feeling of restlessness or anxiety
- Thoughts of suicide, self harm, or risky behaviors
If left untreated, depression can begin to affect your work, social life, and relationships. This can lead to further feelings of worthlessness, regret, and guilt. You might feel like depression puts a damper on everything, leaving you hopeless at the center of it.
Is Depression Physical Or Mental
The apparent dichotomy between “physical” and “mental” illnesses taps into one of the deepest conceptual fault lines in psychiatry and psychology, which is the spurious division between “physical” and “mental” phenomena. Depression is a perfect example of this.
Described aloud, depression sounds like a very psychological phenomenon: low mood, guilt, hopelessness, and suicidality. But people with severe depression often tell me that depression runs much deeper than very severe unhappiness: It is also a bodily condition characterized by a profound physical slowing down, loss of energy, and disturbances to appetite, sleep, movement, sexual activity, and other biological functions.
In other words, depression affects the entire physical body and not just the brain or mind.
This makes perfect sense: There is no logical division between mental and physical phenomena. Our brains are as much a part of our body as our arms and legs are. It is illogical to think that physical factors would not affect our mental health, and that mental factors would not affect our physical health.
This close interaction between our mental and physical selves is clearly evidenced in our current understandings of the causes of depression, which include not only mental and physical risk factors but also social circumstances that create the overall landscape of risk for the disorder.
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Why Can Depression Go Undiagnosed In Men
While discussions around mental health seem to be expanding in reach and compassion, theres still some cultural and social stigma around depression particularly among men.
Generally, men are socialized by society to hold in their emotions, though we know doing so isnt healthy. In their efforts to maintain these social norms, many men may be compromising their emotional, physical, and mental well-being.
In addition, many men are never taught to recognize the less typical signs of depression that theyre more likely than others to experience.
Some men never seek help for their depression because they never recognize the signs. On the other hand, some men who do recognize the signs may struggle to discuss their experience because they fear the judgment of others.
As a result, when many men experience the signs of depression, they begin to work long hours or otherwise fill their time to stay busy, instead of addressing the depression itself.
Diagnosing depression and seeking treatment can help save lives. Suicide rates are high among men, especially those who have served or currently serve in the military. Additionally, men are three to four times more likely than women to complete suicide.
In continuing to open up the conversation, we can help men with depression recognize the signs. By seeking treatment, men with depression can live their fullest possible lives.
What Are Some Physical Signs Of Depression
Depression manifests differently for everyone, so don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all list of symptoms you have to show in order to be depressed. Some of the most common physical signs of depression include, but aren’t limited to:
Fatigue
People who suffer from depression frequently experience a lack of energy, even if they’re eating well and getting adequate sleep.²
Chest Pain
Pain in your chest due to depression or other stressors is known as stress cardiomyopathy or “broken heart syndrome.”³ It’s often described as feeling similar to a heart attack, with shortness of breath and a rapid heartbeat frequently coming with it.
Aches and Pains
Sore muscles and general body pains can be a sign of depression, as the stress that depression creates takes a big toll on your body.
Stomach Problems
Stomach issues like nausea, acid reflux, and intestinal distress can all be linked back to depression, with some cases feeling as bad as food poisoning.
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