Depression And Its Symptoms

Depression is a mood disorder and can affect a person's ability to function in normal society. It is commonly known to be associated with chemical substances (neurotransmitters) in the brain that are imbalanced. These chemical substances are seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.

The levels of these substances can be affected by and among other things than, genetics, medication, social circumstances, injuries, aging, genetics and sometimes seasonal changes. It is important to make an assessment of the cause of depression if possible. Some symptoms of depression are sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, anxiety, guilt, restlessness and irritability. There can be a loss of appetite, pleasure, concentration, decision making abilities and may experience aches and pains with no real cause, excessive sleeping and the exact opposite, insomnia. Depression can make one contemplate suicide which is the real concern in today's culture.

Today, with the stress of living the fast paced and competitive lifestyle that is present in our society, many people experience mood altering situations, sometimes described simply as emotions. Stress is a result of high emotions and is the largest culprit, throwing off the chemical balance in our brains without even recognizing it is happening and repeated stress, which we all live, complicates the process, sometimes throwing a person into a mood altering disease or personality disorder. Other causes can include metabolic disturbance, hypothyroidism, systemic infection or chronic disease and often reactions to or misuse of medications or alcohol. This is why It is important to have a good assessment as to the origin of the depression that one may be experiencing.

Depression In Adults

Depression has become very common among the adults. Depression may occur in three levels which includes; mild depression, moderate depression as well as severe depression. Research has shown that one in every four women and one in every ten men will suffer from depression at some time in their lives. There are many symptoms that are associated with depression in adult such as; loneliness, suicidal thoughts, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, low energy, persistent sadness and so on. The more severe the condition becomes, the more the symptoms that the patient will experience. In most cases, the patients will get convinced that something really bad is about to happen to them such as a fatal disease or poverty.

Recent studies have shown that about 6%-19% of the population will suffer from major depression at one time in their life. Although there is no apparent known cause for depression, many researchers tend to think that it is a biological illness. The reasoning for this is due to;The condition occurs without any apparent reason for example without any changes in lifestyle,The condition tend to run down the family tree,It can be treated with medicines alone in most cases.

Depression is a condition that must be taken very seriously. If not checked, it can have severe impacts on one's life. It can interfere with social life, career life, family relations and can also impact negatively on your sense of self purpose and self worth.

Major causes of depression in adults

There are many factors that have been found to be possible causes of depression. Some of the causes include; alcohol abuse, change in seasons, physical/hormonal changes, traumatic events, hypothyroidism, stroke, heart attack and so on.

Common symptoms of depression in adults

-Anger and anxiety

-Withdrawing from family and friends

-Feeling of guilt and worthlessness

-Changes in eating habits as well as sleeping patterns

-Irritability,Lack of enthusiasm and motivation

-Persistent sadness

-Weight loss or weight gain

-Suicidal thoughts

Diagnosis of depression

There is no clinical test that can be conducted to determine if the patient is suffering from depression. Diagnosis is based on; the type of symptoms being experienced by the patient, for how long the patient has had the symptoms and also how the symptoms have impacted on the patient's life. Blood tests may also be conducted but only to rule out other conditions with similar symptoms.

Treatment of depression in adults

There are different treatment options that are available for depression patients. Among them includes;

-Cognitive-behavioral therapy- This method tries to recognize what has caused depression and also helps to fight negative thoughts

-Use of antidepressants- These are medicines that brings re-establishes chemical balance in the brains. In some cases, antidepressants may be administered together with other medication such as antianxiety, anticonvulsant, mood-stabilizing or antipsychotic medications.

-Engaging in creative work of art, music or drama could help to relieve symptoms of depression

-Group therapy- it helps to fight feelings of isolation which may lead one to have feelings of loneliness.

-Other treatment options includes; St John's wort, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), exercising and light therapy.

Understanding Complex Forex Quotes

Understanding a Forex quote may be a bit confusing for a new trader. In time it does become quite simple. You need to remember a couple of things. The first currency quoted is what is called the base currency and the value of that currency is always 1.

The US dollar is the central currency of the Forex market and is almost always the base currency in most quotes. The majors includes USD vs JPY, USD vs CHF and USD vs CAD. These currencies are expressed as a unit of 1 dollar USD verses the second currency named in the pair. An example may be USD/JPY 120.01 means one USD dollar is equal to 120.01 Japanese yen.

When the base unit (the U.S. dollar) stays at 1 and the other currency quote goes up increasing to 123.01 (using our previous example), it means base U.S. dollar has gone up in value and the Japanese yen has weakened. There are exceptions to that as the British pound (GBP),the Euro (EUR) and the Australian dollar (AUD). In this example, you will see a number such as GBP/USD 1.4366, this means a British pound is equal to 1.4366 U.S. dollar. In a situation like this where the U.S. dollar isn't the base rate any more, this rising number means a weakening US dollar because now it takes more U.S. dollars to equal the other currency.

You could say if a currency quote is going up above one, that increases the worth of the base currency. A falling number means the base currency is weakening. Pairs that do not use the U.S. dollar are referred to as cross currencies, but they function the same. An example may be, EUR/JPY 127.95 means that a Euro is equal to 127.95 Japanese yen.

When trading Forex, there is quoted a 2-sided buying price and a 2-sided selling price. The difference between the buy and sell price is the spread. When you see a two-sided quote it consists of a 'bid' and 'ask' price. A bid price is the selling price of the base currency at the same time as you buy the counter currency. The ask price is the buying price at of the base currency at the same time you are selling the counter currency.

Play Therapy - How Can It Help My Child?

Many people look for therapy for their children and they have a narrow focus of what play therapy is. They may think that it is sitting down with the child and having long conversations with them to find out why they are acting the way they are acting. They may think the therapist needs to be firm and tell the client how to behave. This is not play therapy.

What is Play Therapy?

Virginia Axeline (author of Dibbs and In Search of Self) was one of the founders of play therapy. She believed that children expressed themselves through play and that is how they are healed. She would bring the client into the play therapy room, filled with a specific array of toys. She would take dubious notes and write down what the child said and did during the play therapy encounter and later interpret it.

Gary Landreth, founder of Child-Centered Play Therapy followed in her footsteps. When children at home can no longer use their own problem solving tools, they may misbehave or act out at home or school. He believes that, when provided with the right conditions, children can once again learn to cope with difficult emotions and find solutions to their own problems. Thus, he uses play therapy to assess and understand children's play. Part of this is done by allowing children to take ownership of their reactions and behaviors. He also believes that with play therapy, children can learn self-discipline and self-control in the play therapy room.

Instead of the elaborate note take of Virginia Axeline, Gary Landreth would jot down notes. However, he would also "track" what the child is doing. He might say, "You are pouring that into there." He would be careful not to label what the child was using before the child labeled it. The child may be using one object and pretending it was something else. Once the child labeled the item, then he would use their terminology. He would track what they were doing not all the time, but every 5 minutes or so depending on what they were doing. The child may correct him or may go on playing.For instance the child may pretend he is shutting a door and he acts as if he is slamming it, he might say, "You are really angry." The child may then correct him and say that he was just closing the door. If the child did a very positive thing, he may say something like, "Look what you did. You did that all by yourself." He may repeat it, if the child ignores him. He would be careful not to praise the child as he does not want the child trying to pleasing him with their behaviors. He wants the child to be able to take ownership of their own problem solving behaviors or their own feelings.

Usually children talk in their play. Gary Landreth would "reflect" or repeat back what the child would say. Sometimes it is a direct quote, but other times it is reworded so that it means the same thing. It is important for the child to know you are listening to them. Now he may not reflect every utterance. Again it may only be every so often. The child may say, "I don't know if I can do this." The reflection may be "You're wondering if you can really do this by yourself."

What is the Difference Between Directive and Non-Directive Play Therapy?

Virginia Axeline and Gary Landreth take a non-directive approach to play therapy. It is just one approach. Some play therapists are more directive in their approach to play therapy. They may take the stance of confronting problems in the clinical play therapy setting so the children can learn healthier solutions by challenging negative thinking, doing role play, modeling, and playing games that focus on skill development. Neither one is better than the other. What the professional therapist uses is based on the needs of the child.

Why Play Therapy?

Many parents question why play in therapy and not just talk therapy. Children communicate best through play. They do not have the advanced vocabulary as we adults do and their feelings come out naturally in their play. Gil, a pronounced play therapist in her own right, utilizes play therapy to help children express what is troubling them when verbal language to express their thoughts and feeling fails. Toys are the children's world and play is the child's language. However, that is only half of the equation. Children need to build a relationship with their therapist. This is crucial to treatment. Change occurs when all of these things are combined.

Emily was an eight year old girl placed in foster care because her guardian was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer's disease and could no longer care for her. At the time this happened, Emily would take my toy animals and set up a stage, a play or musical so to speak. The animals were paired with their mothers and they would each sing different songs. During her play, it was inevitable; one of the singers would collapse and need resuscitation. This theme was played out several times. Then, one day during the singing, an ambulance was introduced and took the collapsed singer to the hospital and she was never to return. Emily told me that when she grew up she was going to find a cure for Alzheimer's and then her guardian wouldn't have to go away and die.

Emily had been working on grieving the loss of her guardian and coping with the illness. We can never second guess what the child's meaning of the play is. That is, we cannot interpret it. It is what the child says it is. A car is a car, if the child says it is a car. We don't read into it. We let the child tell their story through play.

Who is Play Therapy For?

Play therapy is typically used with children three through twelve. However, play therapy can also be used with adolescents. Play therapy is used to treat a variety of conditions including anger management, grief, loss, family dissolution, and trauma. It is also used to modify behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), autism, and pervasive developmental, academic, and social developmental, physical and learning disabilities, and conduct disorders. It is also used in treating children whose problems are related to life stressors including, but not limited to divorce, death, relocation, hospitalization, chronic illness, stressful experiences, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and natural disasters.

What are the Benefits of Play Therapy?

Play therapy helps children in a variety of ways.

They become responsible for their behaviors

They develop creative solutions

They develop respect for others

They develop self-acceptance

They learn to experience and express emotions in socially appropriate ways.

They learn empathy for the thoughts and feelings of others

They develop healthier social skills with friends and family members

They develop self-efficacy and are more self-assured about their abilities.

How Long Does My Child Need to Be in Therapy?

Typically treatment on average takes 20 play therapy sessions to resolve a particular problem. However, a lot depends on the child. Serious or ongoing problems take longer to resolve. Sessions usually occur once a week for 45-50 minutes.

SSRI's Have More Benefits As Well As More Side Effects

From the 1960's to the late 1980's, the development of antidepressants remained fairly stagnant. Every few years a new antidepressant would be introduced, but always with major accompanying side effects. Some medications were sedating while others were stimulating. None could treat the depression without causing side effects of one type or another.

Scientists spent twenty years developing and testing compounds problems, including impotence and an inability to achieve orgasm. Among women, nearly 2 percent reported difficulty achieving orgasm. In the Zoloft trials 16 percent of men and 2 percent of women had sexual problems. However, these data are likely to be grossly underestimated if the same discrepancies hold true for these drugs as they did for Prozac. Based on my own patients' experience, I think all the SSRI's cause approximately the same level of sexual dysfunction as Prozac does, although Paxil may be the worst offender.

Despite the manufacturers' initial findings that Prozac and other SSRI's don't cause weight gain, researchers, clinicians, and patients have been indicating just the opposite. Research is still trickling in, but reports are indicating that people who take SSRI's for longer than three to six months frequently gain weight. This may explain the initial clinical data, which found that people lost weight during the first six weeks they were on SSRI's. In fact, Eli Lilly considered seeking approval of Prozac as a treatment for obesity based on its initial clinical trials.

Physicians were taken aback when they began to see weight gain in their patients on SSRI's. One researcher described the phenomenon as "completely unexpected" and stated, "We would be remiss if we do not inform our patients that weight gain may be associated with the use of fluoxetine [Prozac]." A study, published in the International Clinics of Psychopharmacology, found that 23 to 40 percent of psychiatric inpatients gained weight after two months of treatment with Prozac. Many of my patients have more intense carbohydrate cravings, probably the result of several mechanisms altered by the SSRI's. Others find that they simply gain weight more easily. Although more research is needed, I've found a definite link between weight gain and SSRI's in my patients.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can have varying effects on sleep, ranging from insomnia to hypersomnia (excessive need for sleep). Some SSRI's (Prozac, Zoloft) are more likely to cause insomnia, while others (Pax ii, Celexa, Luvox) are more likely to cause hypersomnia, but because we are all wired a bit differently, the effects may be completely opposite in some people. For example, SSRI's may either alleviate or cause tension or migraine headaches. Prozac and Zoloft in particular can have a stimulant effect, causing agitation, nervousness, or anxiety in 10 to 15 percent of patients. An additional one in five patients on SSRI's (most commonly Paxil or Luvox) may feel drowsy or drugged. At least 5 percent of people stop taking their medication because of this side effect.

Since the vast majority of serotonin production in the body is related to the gastrointestinal tract, it is not surprising that all of the SSRI's can cause digestive disturbances, such as nausea and diarrhea. As an example, Prozac can cause nausea (in 21.1 percent of patients), diarrhea (12.3 percent), dry mouth (9.5 percent), indigestion (6.4 percent), abdominal pain (3.4 percent), and vomiting (2.4 percent). This class of drugs can also cause excessive sweating, skin rashes, abnormal dreams, and seizures (in about 0.2 percent of patients, which is about the average rate as far as most antidepressants go, with the exception of Wellbutrin-immediate release form, but not sustained release form-and Anafranil, which carry a higher risk, and Desyrel and Serzone, which do not increase seizure risk at all). Although SSRI's are much better tolerated than older antidepressants, it is clear that they're a far cry from side-effect free miracle drugs.

Making Good Use of Depression

Depression can be a profoundly damaging and disrupting condition, preventing us from living fully and realizing our talents. We may need to get help for treating depression, but a number of people say the experience has had value for them.

Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison, referring to her bipolar disorder (which she controls with medication), has said, "I honestly believe that as a result of it I have felt more things, more deeply; had more experiences, more intensely; loved more, and have been more loved... laughed more often for having cried more often; appreciated more the springs, for all the winters."

Though only a fraction of people experience bipolar or other severe forms of depression that require medical intervention, many of us experience some kind of mood disorder: almost 10 percent of adults, according to The National Institute of Mental Health.

But many people use the term depression very loosely, as in "I am so depressed that Danny is gone from American Idol." That may be distressing, but it is not depression.

Some writers think many psychiatrists have been too willing to prescribe antidepressants for people who are just coping with the aftermath of a recent emotional blow, such as a divorce or job loss.

While it is natural to want to escape emotional or spiritual distress, including depression, there are many people who may be considered melancholics or depressives who make contributions to the arts, and may reasonably flee from taking medications to suppress their feelings.

Psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer (author of Listening to Prozac) wrote, "Much of what we value - our understanding of beauty, profundity, even romance - has been crafted by melancholics. Today, in a time when people demand serenity as if it were the human condition, one cheer for melancholy hardly seems excessive." [From "Why I'm in Favor of Sadness" Self magazine, July, 2001]

But Dr. Kramer also wrote the book "Against Depression" and thinks it is "a disease of extraordinary magnitude," and "the major scourge of humankind" which should be treated as effectively as possible.

Many writers and other artists do have higher levels of depression than other groups of people. Can it be at all helpful?

Artist Caroline Bertorelli is quoted in the book The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression: "I get depressed quite regularly and often. It used to distress and frustrate me that I have such a tendency. But as I grow older, I see my depression as a valuable time for introspection and deep thinking about life."

In our interview, I asked the author of the book, psychologist and creativity coach Eric Maisel, if he finds that others are able to experience depression as something with positive meaning and value.

Dr. Maisel replied, "Many artists try. I believe that it serves us best to learn how to reduce or eliminate both depression and anxiety from our lives, as I do not hold them as useful in any way. I think that pain is overrated."

But he also pointed out, creative people can become depleted after working on a creative project, and the blues may strike if they aren't making sufficient meaning in their work or their lives.

That may be one of the real values to us of depression: using it as a signal that we need to be more engaged with our values and in finding and making meaning, or looking more deeply at what is not working right in our life.

Treating Atypical Depression

Are you in a place where you think that you might be suffering from depression? If your symptoms don't match up with the symptoms for the most common form of depression but if the result is still very much the same, it might be time for you to take a look at atypical depression. Atypical depression is actually a subset of major depression, and it is largely characterized through mood reactivity. Even in the midst of atypical depression, you will be able to experience improved moods when positive events occur. This can make diagnosing this condition tough, but there are still treatments and options that are available to you.

When you are looking at atypical depression, you may find that there are symptoms that it does not have in common with major depression. For instance, the first symptom is that mood lightening is possible when in the presence or in anticipation of positive events. Some other symptoms include weight gain or an increase in your appetite, over-sensitivity to interpersonal rejection, feeling a heavy leaden feeling in your arms or legs or hypersomnia, a condition where you sleep more than you should. You need to have at least two of these symptoms to qualify for atypical depression.

The important thing to remember about atypical depression is that it is treatable. The first thing that you should remember is that you do not need to turn to drugs, prescription or otherwise, for this issue. Many of the drugs that the prescribe are going to be expensive and in the long term, habit forming, so take a moment and make sure that you look at your other options. One important tool that you might want to consider if you are suffering from atypical depression is put yourself on a well-considered diet plan. This does not meant that you should eat to lose weight; instead, eat foods that are light and crisp and that will give you the energy that you need to get through your day; the effects from doing this can be quite positively profound.

Remember that you should also keep your goals small, but that you should indeed have them. There are many people who frequently feel overwhelmed in the face of atypical depression, and the issue with this is that they often find that they cannot move forward because the job is too big. Just remember that all you need to do is to break it down into smaller tasks so that you can accomplish it easily. When you have a series of small tasks to think about, suddenly things become much easier.

Take a moment to really consider the issues that are presented by atypical depression. This condition is more common than you might think, and at the end of the day, it all too often goes untreated. Remember that when you are looking for a solution, check out our e-course, which can give you fast, safe and, above all, drug free solutions to your depression!