Signs and Symptoms of Severe Depression, and What We Can Do

Signs and symptoms of severe depression are not the end, for we can overcome this obstacle.

Welcome to our website. Severe depression can be a devastating problem for many people, and one problem, which one should not have to face by them selves. If you or a loved one has changed perspective on life and you have lost heart in living, we wish to reach out to you with encouragement. First, we will look at the signs and symptoms of severe depression, which may be present in your world, and then we will look at the causes and thus the choices you may have to correct the situation. Understanding the signs and seeing the symptoms is very important.

The very first thing, and foremost in importance is to look at is the sufferer’s history, for unmet psychological needs. We need to see any signs or symptoms as soon as they began, so that we may find a cause at that time. The reason we do that is the mind is a powerful biological influence over the body. When there are unresolved emotional issues in the mind, those unresolved issues could influence the biological balance within the body. If you try for equilibrium in the body with antidepressants, you may temporarily relieve the signs and symptoms, only to have them return later, when you may need a higher dosage. If unmet family issues are the cause, relieving the symptoms will not correct the situation. One of the bad things about purely medical correction is that over time the brain makes more receptors to that correction. What that means is if you need a smaller dose now, you may need a larger dose later to achieve the same effect.

If however, there were family issues in the past for you or your loved one, and you have faced those issues with therapy, then a purely medical adjustment may be all that is necessary. With depression, the brain can initiate an imbalance, and then can stay out of balance until medical treatment corrects it. This experience-caused brain imbalance can be permanent, until the introduction of drugs will change it, bringing it back into line. For this situation, medical treatment with drugs will work very effectively.

There are seven forms of depression, which are major depression, post partum, dysthmyia, bipolar, melancholia, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and summer SAD. All of these forms have many of the same signs and symptoms, but have very different causes.

We also call Major Depression depressive disorder or clinical depression. If you or a loved one has experienced any of the following feelings about life, they may be more than just a passing bad moment, or just having a bad day. Consider each of these signs and symptoms and measure to what degree they may be present in the sufferer's life.

These feelings are: Decreased energy Excessive guilt Substance abuseWithdrawing from others sociallyFeelings of sadness Change in appetite eating more or eating lessMultiple thoughts about suicideAwakening earlier than usual or multiple times through the nightIndecisionInability to concentrateUnable to experience pleasureFeelings of worthlessnessSelf blame.

Bipolar Disorder Signs and Symptoms

Manic depression affects far fewer people, but the mood swings and behaviors are extreme. These bipolar episodes are of two kinds, based on the length of time between cycles or episodes. Medical personnel refer to them as bipolar one, and bipolar two. The symptoms are of three types, depressive, manic, and hypomanic. Half of Bipolar Disorder sufferers have a family history of the mental illness while the other half do not. Bipolar Disorder sufferers are unique in that they may experience symptoms of depression and of mania or hypomania at the same time. Bipolar Disorder has no known cure and sufferers can mange it with medication to some degree. Bipolar Disorder sufferers may react negatively to some medications, so full disclosure to medical doctors is critical. Sufferers must regulate their life to a highly disciplined degree regarding exercise, sleep, and avoid stress, caffeine and all alcohol and drugs. Bipolar one: characteristics are long lasting, widely spaced episodes of mania followed by long lasting episodes of depression, with cycles repeating. Bipolar two differs in that it involves at least one hypomanic episode and one major depressive episode, but never goes to a manic episode, with all mood swings usually gradual. If the sufferer has a rapid cycling disorder, the changes can happen as often as four or more times a year. In rare cases, cycles can happen in a matter of days or even hours. These signs and symptoms can be very traumatic.

The manic signs and symptoms of Bipolar Disorder include:

Elevated, expansive, or irritable moods These moods may be:Grandiosity and inflated self-esteemMore talkative than usual, needing to talk Racing thoughtsExcessive participation in pleasurable activities that are life damagingDecreased need for sleep Easily distractedOverly focused on goalsExtreme agitation

These signs and symptoms have no origin in drug or alcohol abuse, and on their own are enough to cause life-damaging consequences with relationships and employment.

The Depressive signs and symptoms of Bipolar Disorder include one physical symptom and ten emotional symptoms: Significant weight loss or gain is the only physical symptomThe emotional symptoms are:Feeling depressed a majority of the time Agitation or lethargy observable by others Undeserved guiltSuicidal thoughtsChange in sleeping habits to less or more than is needed Feeling of worthlessnessIndecisivenessDiminished interest is all activitiesFeelings of fatigue and complete loss of energy Lessened ability to concentrate

These signs and symptoms will be strong enough to impair relationships and employment, and last longer than two months.

Postpartum Depression Post partum depression has two levels, the first level is nick named ‘the baby blues.’ The Baby Blues affect up to seventy percent of all who have children. The symptoms are not serious and consist of unexpected sleeping, crying, and feelings of confusion for no reason. Episodes last about ten days and start about three days to 30 days after delivery.

Postpartum depression Postpartum Depression is less common than the baby blues, and is more severe. Signs and symptoms can appear during the first several months after delivery. These effects can be so strong as to affect the mother’s confidence in her ability to nurture her infant and her behavior can affect the infant’s cognitive and emotional development. Symptoms generally include:

No energy Such difficulty in concentrating that the mother may lose her train of thought Extreme difficulty making decisions Feelings of "going crazy"Concerns that if she was to share her feelings, someone will take the baby away. May be suicidal

Sometimes, these signs and symptoms appear abruptly and are severe enough that the woman recognizes right away that she needs to seek treatment. Other times, the symptoms appear so gradually that the woman does not seek treatment immediately, if at all. Without treatment, the symptoms can disappear within several months. However, untreated postpartum depression can last into the second year after delivery. Once a woman suffers from an episode of Post partum depression, she is at risk with each subsequent delivery.

A deeper form of postpartum depression is postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is rare and occurs in less than one in five hundred births. The signs and symptoms of postpartum psychosis are severe and can affect the mothers care of the baby. Postpartum psychosis requires help from other caregivers, and possibly hospitalization. The signs and symptoms of postpartum psychosis may include:Hallucinations Delusions Extreme agitation Inability to care for self or infant Lack of interest in the infantInability to sleep

Dysthymia or chronic depression

Dysthmyia was previously considered to be a low-level depression, a state which was simply a character trait associated with certain types of personalities. Since this melancholy outlook was part of the patient’s nature, doctors felt that these individuals would not respond to treatment and consequently doctors ignored their symptoms. However, medical and psychological science has proved this theory false. We now know people do not have to continue suffering with this ongoing mild depression.

Persons with low-level depression, or mild depression, can experience life as a constant struggle. Even more alarming, it can make an individual more prone to developing major depression. Doctors have discovered that several therapies, including medications and cognitive-behavior therapy can be helpful in treating the patient who is suffering from this type of depression.

The symptoms of dysthymia may include:

A depressed mood most of the time for at least two years. Going less than two months without: Poor appetite or overeating Difficulty falling or staying asleep Sleeping too much Low energy or fatigue Low self-esteem Poor concentration Difficulty making decisions

Melancholia

Melancholia is a type of depression whose symptoms include:

Loss of pleasure in all activities Failure to react positively to things we originally love to do Distinct depressed mood usually worse in the morning Early morning wakening Slowing of movement Agitation Significant loss of appetite causing weight loss Excessive or inappropriate guilt

SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

Most of us long for the summer during the dark days of January and February. The days seem longer in hours when we to go to work in the dark and come home after dark. We naturally look forward to having some time off after work with the sun still up. For those with SAD, that yearning is more than that, for them it is a need to remain happy. January and February are the months of the most difficult time of the year. As the days grow shorter, those individuals suffering from SAD experience their symptoms to stronger degrees.

Women experience SAD four times more often than men experience SAD. We estimate that up to 25 million Americans suffer from this form of depression. Northern climates have a higher rate of Sad than the south, because in the south, the sun is up the majority of the time year round, whereas in the north, sunlight falls a smaller percentage of the day. Because of this, we believe the exposure to sunlight and its denial is the principal cause of the condition. We have recently found that sunlight to the exposed back part of the leg satisfies the condition for the need for light on the human body. This relationship between the human body and the sunlight cycles began when we were all tropical hunter-gatherers who traveled with our legs exposed wearing shorter clothing on our legs.

The symptoms include:Feeling depressed Excessive eating, sleeping, and weight gain when the days grow shorter Cravings for sugary and/or starchy food Loss of energy Anxiety Irritability Loss of interest in physical relations Difficulty concentrating and processing information

We identify symptoms of SAD if they have repeated during the last two years, with no signs of depression during the spring and summer months. Antidepressants and psychotherapy are options for treatment, but SAD does not seem to respond to traditional treatments as well as other forms of depression. Light therapy, where a patient exposes the backs of the legs to light, seems to reset the biological clock to summertime conditions, is a good treatment. A reverse condition of this is Summer SAD, where too long of days cause depression and an imbalance of day night orientation. All of us can fall prey to the imbalance of light in our daily cycles, if it goes on long enough. In upper Alaska, at the ends of the long summers almost all residents begin to put tin foil on their windows to create their own nighttime conditions within their homes until winter arrives. Depressive symptoms of summer SAD are similar to winter SAD, but the cause is the reverse. Agitation Sleep disturbances Disinterest in food

If you think you have summer SAD, antidepressants can help. Wear long pants and cover your legs from sunlight as much as possible. Lower the shades, and keep out as much light from your home as is practical. Keep yourself as cool as possible as heat may be a trigger in confusing you biological clock as well.

Now that we have looked at an overview of depression and its relationship to humankind, we will see how it fits into your world, and what you can do about it for you or your loved one. We need to see where you fit into this picture and where you are on this scale.

Options

In looking at the signs and symptoms of severe depression you are experiencing, we see there are many types of depression. There are types of depression caused by the environment, such as SAD, and summer SAD. Proof of this is that the state of Wyoming has the highest suicide rate and the third highest alcoholism rate in the nation, due to the depressing winds over its wide-open spaces! Unceasing wind has a very powerful depressing effect on all types of personalities. We must consider if anything in our environment may be the primary cause of our depression and emotional failure.

You may start by looking at the weather in your present season. When can you remember feeling the worst, and at what times of the year were these feelings present? Look for common denominators in each episode that you can remember. Were they in the winter, summer, was it raining, hot, windy, or humid? Some people do not like rain, whereas for me, I love rain because it reminds me of the afternoon storms in summer when I was a child in Florida. After we look at the weather, consider other environmental factors. Did you move into a new house or apartment? What is the color of the walls in your rooms? Color has a powerful effect on emotions. Without realizing it, a color you do not like will begin to bother you after a while and can definitely cause you emotional discomfort.

Consider other aspects of your home. Location, house mates, and the issue of privacy in your space are all high value factors. Moving into an apartment with too many roommates on a busy city street may not give you enough personal separation. For others, living in too quiet a setting out in the country may be like living in a morgue. The critical factor here is your interpretation of what you like and what you do not like. Younger persons may love the closeness to others; older persons may want their space. Extrovert personalities may love the social contact; introvert personalities may relish more isolated and quieter settings. How compatible is your living environment to you and your personality? Living in a setting where something bothers you, and you ignoring it, will definitely bring you down after a while.

Also, consider the environment where you work. The cause of emotional disturbances may come from that area, as well. Working at a job that is not within the strengths of your personality may cause you depression or elevated anxiety.

There are types of depression caused by biological factors, such as post partum depression. Childbirth can have a very depleting effect on some mothers, so much so, that this biological depletion can cause emotional collapse, and make the mother feel she is not capable of caring for her baby. We must consider if anything in our health may be the cause of our depression. This can be childbirth, change in living location to change our health, such as different water intake, or food and vitamin deficiencies, and changes in work habits interfering with exercise or sleep habits.

The first thing to look at is your family history for depression and other related emotional imbalance. Such a family history may indicate genetic causes, or that family history may also indicate dysfunctional living, which causes the depression due to shame and emotional abuse. In my case, our family was as healthy as horses, but the horrific emotional abuse caused addictions, strokes, heart attacks, and cancer due to smoking and drugs.

Lastly, there are types of depression caused by emotional factors. Unmet childhood emotional needs hidden deep in our psyche, or unmet emotional needs from today most certainly may be the cause of deep depression. These unmet emotional needs can come from our individual inabilities, or from what we lived in with our families collectively, like we talked about earlier.

Summary We need to look at our family emotional history, our health profile today, and look very closely at our environment to get the complete picture. When we see beyond the signs and symptoms of severe depression to our deeper feelings, we may detect something that is bothering us we have not noticed before, or have been choosing to ignore. Getting dark too soon in the day, the color of our rooms, too crowded an apartment where we live, can all be causes of what is bothering us, and feeling ashamed to share our needs with someone may be the cause of us carrying around all that emotional weight. This weight is something we do not deserve to carry. If there are signs and symptoms of severe depression in your life, or in the lives of your loved ones, you can look past them and get to their causes.

Make a list of all the possible irritants that may be contributing to your depression and email them to us at the address provided. The reason for that is that like X-rays and exposure to some poisons, the damage is cumulative, and many small irritants, tolerable by themselves, when massed together with all the other irritants you may have, could be emotionally fatal.

The emphasis of our website is on the comforting of those whose primary causes of depression and anxiety is emotional trauma in their childhoods.

For more on this subject please consider our first in series book Overcoming Depression from Emotional Abuse/The Tools of Your Mind.

Our book specifically addresses dealing with past unresolved issues, which may be causing these signs and symptoms of your or your loved one's severe depression. These past pains almost always are a cause in our present condition of depression.

In it, we take you through your spiritual journey back home to your Original Self. We talk about God's purpose behind that soul’s journey, as we follow our heart’s dreams to our ultimate destiny. We answer many questions about selfishness, prosperity, psychotherapy, and finding our dreams and happiness. We share much about boundaries. We also talk about the spiritual controls we have within to bring our good to us. Those controls are our Sincerity Switch, Spontaneity Switch, and lastly our Feelings and Dreams Switch.

God bless you in your journey or in the help of your friends. We would love to hear from you. Please contact us to share your trials and victories with us. We promise to answer every Email we receive personally.

Thanks for visiting!

Shayne and Lori North in Aurora, Colorado

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